Xena's Family
by tyshay92
Summary: Starts from the "Maternal Instincts" episode in season 3... Solan lives and Xena takes him with her as she promised, setting Xena's life on a different path. There's more family mixed into Xena's adventures. Come along for this interesting/entertaining ride.
1. Solan

_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights of Xena: Warrior Princess. Strictly fan fiction._

_S__eason 3_

Solan

Xena was already a legendary warrior who fought for good and everything she believed but had a dark side, a dark side that stemmed from her dark past. After her brother Lycius died, a series of events led her down a dark path and along the way she convinced herself that she didn't need love and was consumed with hate and wanting power. Her path led her to a man named Borias who she had a beautiful son named Solan with. Borias died and Xena didn't want Solan in harms way being as she knew she had so many enemies and she didn't want him to become like the person she was at the time so she gave Solan to the centaurs which was one of the most painful things she ever had to do. Xena then continued with her evil power struck ways for some years until she met Hercules, son of Zeus, half god/half mortal. Hercules was a good man and Xena fell in love with him. He influenced her to change her ways but they decided not to take their relationship any further. Months later, Xena met Gabrielle who became her best friend and kept her on the track that Hercules initially set her on. Once Gabrielle entered her life it was no longer okay to be alone.

Buried below all the anger, hate and power was the Xena of Amphipolis who was a mama's girl and love to fish with her brothers; the same Xena that liked to spend time at her grandparents farm and listen to them tell stories by the fireplace. The Xena who knew that family and love was more important than power was still there, her heart just needed to be softened again and when it did, it hurt that much more to not have her son with her but she knew he was better off.

Xena and Gabrielle found themselves back in the land of the centaurs after an entire year, two months and six days as Xena counted. The centaurs needed their help. Xena was excited to see Solan again, he had grown so much in just a year. As happy as she was to see him, things were quickly going down hill. Somehow Collisto was back and she knew about Solan so Xena had to do everything she could to protect him. She had him in the safest place she knew. While she and Gabrielle were off throwing Collisto off her tracks Hope was killing Kaleipus. Xena found Kaleipus before he took his last breath and then went to check on Solan. Kaleipus' last words to Xena was, "Raise him."

Xena informed Solan of the tragedy. He was heartbroken, feeling like everyone he loves and who loves him dies.

"I want to be with you." Solan said catching Xena off guard. It warmed her heart.

"Wouldn't you rather be with people you already have ties too?" Xena asked.

"No. I won't be any trouble. I promise. I can fetch my own food and I don't get sick much! Please, don't leave me." Solan pleaded.

"Ok! When all of this is over, you have your bags packed and be ready to go. We have a lot to talk about we might as well do it on the road." Xena then hugged her son tightly. It meant everything to her that it was what Solan wanted, it was obviously what she wanted and she knew Kaleipus would want it that way too. At the thought of Kaleipus she had a flashback.

"The-the-the ch-ild." Xena realized that's what Kaleipus said just before he said, "Raise him," and after she asked who did this to him.

"But what child?" She asked herself still holding onto Solan. Then it hit her. "The child."

-v-

Meanwhile Gabrielle was hugging Hope in a hut after worrying that something had happened to her.

"I have this power. I don't know why..." Hope stated.

Gabrielle was reminded that Xena claimed Hope killed someone with that power as a baby but Gabrielle didn't want to believe such a thing.

"I'm sorry mommy! I set Collisto free! I didn't mean to!" Hope pretended to be upset.

"How?" Gabrielle began to wonder.

"We have to tell Xena." Gabrielle said.

"No! Xena hates me!" Hope yelled out.

The statement caught Gabrielle off guard.

"Why do you think Xena hates you?" Gabrielle asked.

"You said she tried to kill me!' Hope exclaimed.

What Gabrielle actually said was, "I had to put you in the basket or I had to watch you be killed." She never said by who. Suddenly, Gabrielle began to realize that everything was too coincidental and Hope seemed to be at the center of it all. It hurt her to admit that Xena was right. Hope was really evil... and she had to be stopped.

"You're right." Gabrielle said. "I won't let Xena hurt you. We're going to stick together. Are you hungry?"

"... Yes." Hope replied to play along with her mother trying to be maternal. She actually thought it was pathetic.

Gabrielle got some food that was in the hut for Hope and then went over to get a bottle from a nearby bag.

"Here you go." Gabrielle handed the bottle to Hope and watched her drink it down. Hope's body fell limp soon after. It broke Gabrielle's heart to have to poison her own child to death but she had to realize that Hope was a demon incarnated as much as she didn't want to believe and admit it. She dropped to her knees in tears, tempted to drink the last bit of poison herself but decided against it.

Xena soon came charging in with her sword drawn but once she got there she realized that the child was dead and that Gabrielle had killed her.

"What happened?" Xena kneeled to Gabrielle's side.

"I'm sorry, I lied to you before. I didn't kill Hope. I couldn't. She was my daughter but you were right. She was evil so I poisoned her." Gabrielle sobbed.

Xena checked Hope's pulse. She was really dead this time.

"I'm sorry Gabrielle." Xena wasn't happy that Gabriellle had lied to her but at least she did the right thing in the end. Hope is only half the battle. I have to stop Collisto. Even though she can't work with Hope anymore, she still knows about Solan and she would do anything to bring me pain.

All the centaurs and mortal men helped Xena fight Collisto while Ephiny looked over the children. It all ended with Xena trapping Collisto in a cave. Everyone was happy the nightmare was finally over and Xena couldn't wait to get back to Solan.

"I'm almost ready." Solan hurried to pack his bags.

"Take your time." Xena smiled.

"Ok, I'm all done."

"Great." Xena sat down. "There's something I think you should know before we leave."

"What's that?" Solan sat next to Xena.

"I tried to tell you this once before... Sometimes people do things they will regret and a lot of times we don't know if the things we do are right or wrong until much later. I've done a lot of things in life that I regret. As you know, I was not always a good person. I started out that way but at some point I took a turn for the worst. Eventually, after doing a lot of bad I found my way back. You were where the light started and although it took me years later and another special person or two to pull me through that light, you were my hope. You were hope that there was still some good and love left in me but... I think all mothers see their children as a light of pure goodness and hope in the world." Xena stared into Solan's beautiful blue eyes that looked so much like her own and was a bit nervous.

"Mother?" Solan questioned.

"Yes, Solan. I'm your mother and I love you so very much. That's why I brought you here to Kaleipus so that you would be safe from my enemies and the influence of the person I used to be." Xena said.

"Mother." A smile slowly appeared on Solan's face then he gave Xena the tightest hug. "I love you, mother."

It was amazing to finally hear Solan call her mother. She didn't want to let him go now that she had him. They could finally be the family that deep down Xena always yearned for.

_I'm enjoying writing this story so I hope you all enjoy reading it. Please tell me what you think._


	2. Together At Last

Together At Last

Xena and Solan walked out of the hut with arms still wrapped around each other and found Gabrielle.

"How are you, Gabrielle?" Xena asked.

"I'll be alright. It'll just take some time." Gabrielle replied.

"Solan is coming with us." Xena said hesitantly because she knew that even though Hope was a little demon, Gabrielle saw her as her daughter. Now Solan was coming along with them and she would get to be a mother while Gabrielle wouldn't be able to mother her own child.

"Really?" Gabrielle was surprised.

"Yeah! Mom, do I have time to say goodbye to everyone?" Solan asked.

"Sure." Xena replied and Solan ran off.

"You told him." Gabrielle said.

"Yeah. He asked to come along, I wanted him to and Kaleipus wanted it too. I figured there's no time like the present. Are you going to be ok with this?" Xena asked.

"... Yeah, it'll be great having a kid around and Solan's a good one. Maybe he'll fill a void for me." Gabrielle replied.

It wasn't long before the three left and met up with Argo.

"Solan, are you ready for an adventure?" Xena asked riding Argo with Solan behind her. Gabrielle was walking.

"Yeah." Solan replied.

"Where to now?" Gabrielle asked.

"Amphipolis. Solan, how would you like to meet your grandmother?" Xena asked.

"Cool. I've never had one before. What's she like?" Solan was curious.

"She's great. You're going to love her." Xena said.

"Your mom and grandmother are just as much alike as they are different." Gabrielle said.

"What's her name?" Solan asked.

"Cyrene." Xena smiled at the thought of her mother meeting Solan.

"That's pretty." Solan said.

Night finally fell upon them so they stopped to rest.

"Mom, can you sing?" Solan asked.

"Yes... Would you like to hear something?" Xena stroked Solan's blond hair as he nodded his head. She sung him a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her and she got to sing to him once after he was born. Solan fell asleep with a smile on his face.

"It's strange seeing you be a mother. I've always known there's a very nurturing side of you but I've never seen this side of you. You're a big softy underneath it all." Gabrielle said.

"I wouldn't go that far." Xena said.

"Hey guys!" Joxer jumped out loudly.

"Shhh!' Xena and Gabrielle said in unison.

"Hey, who's the kid?" Joxer whispered.

"Meet Xena's son, Solan." Gabrielle said.

"Son?" It took Joxer everything not to yell that. "When did you get a son?"

"About ten years ago." Xena said.

Joxer stood there with his mouth wide open. A fly flew in.

"Joxer, are you sleeping here with us or not?" Gabrielle asked.

"Uh... yeah." Joxer put down his blanket next to Gabrielle and laid down. "Xena, a mom. I can't believe it."

"You can believe how cranky this mom is going to be in the morning if I don't get any sleep tonight and you know how I am when I'm cranky." Xena said.

"At least there will be another guy around now... Ok zip." Joxer said.

The next morning they continued on to Amphipolis with Joxer. It took them a couple days but they finally arrived.

Xena walked into her childhood home with everyone else following her.

"Mother?" Xena called. "This is where I grew up." Xena informed Solan then Cyrene finally walked into the living room from the kitchen.

"Xena!" Cyrene hugged her daughter. "It's wonderful to see you. Hello Gabrielle."

"Mom, this is our friend Joxer."

"Nice to meet you Joxer... and who is this handsome young man?" Cyrene asked.

"He is your surprise. This is Solan, your grandson. He's ten." Xena said.

Cyrene was frozen, staring at Xena in shock then she finally looked down at Solan.

"Oh my... goodness. I thought he had your beautiful eyes and he has hair like Lycius. You're so handsome. Aw!" Cyrene embraced Solan in a hug. "Are you hungry? I just finished dinner."

"Mother's a great cook but that happens to not be one of my many skills." Xena said.

"Who are you kidding? When you put your mind to it, you can make a very delicious meal? You've just never liked to cook." Cyrene said.

"Busted!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "I always cook and you've been able to the entire time!"

"You weren't listening. She said I had to really put my mind to it." Xena said.

"Oh sure." Gabrielle replied.

"Come on, let's have dinner." Cyrene said.

After dinner Xena and Cyrene went outside to talk.

"Why didn't you tell me... about Solan?"Cyrene asked.

"I didn't tell anyone, partly because it hurt too much and partly for his protection. If it got out that I had a son he wouldn't have been safe and we weren't exactly on speaking terms at the time. He was being raised by a centaur named Kaleipus. Unfortunately, Kaleipus was killed a few days ago so I brought Solan with me. A few days ago was only the second time I met him since he was born and now I get to see him everyday. It meant the world that after the first time he loved me so much that he wanted to be with me. We're together at last." Xena said.

"I'm glad I finally get to meet him. I have a grandson! This means you have to visit more." Cyrene said.

"We will!" Xena assured.

"So now that you have Solan with you, do you think he will still be safe?" Cyrene asked.

"I'm different now so I don't have as many enemies and my biggest enemy is trapped in a cave so yeah. Besides, I can protect him." Xena explained.

Gabrielle, Solan and Joxer then came outside.

"Tag! You're it." Solan touched Joxer and ran off with Gabrielle. Joxer began to chase them.

Xena and Cyrene laughed.

"Wow, almost everyone I love in the world who are alive is here with me." Xena was amazed.

"Toris sent word that he will be here tomorrow. You're all staying a while right?" Cyrene informed.

"Yeah, we'll be here a few days." Xena replied.

"Wonderful, I can't remember the last time I've had both my children home with me and now I have my grandson too." Cyrene was so happy she could cry.

The next morning, Xena and Cyrene were chatting in the living room when Toris walked in the tavern.

"Mother I'm home!" Toris exclaimed but was stopped in his tracks as he was shocked to see his sister.

"Surprise." Xena said.

Toris went over to hug Cyrene.

"Toris hug your sister." Cyrene said.

Toris hugged Xena.

"What are you doing here?" Toris asked.

"I visit mom whenever I get a chance. Besides, family time was needed. That's why I was happy to hear that you were coming. I thought you should meet your nephew." Xena said.

"Nephew?" Toris was caught off guard.

"Xena has a ten year old son." Cyrene said.

Toris didn't say anything, he just had the most confused look on his face.

"Solan!" Xena called and he came downstairs a few minutes later.

"Yes mother." Solan replied.

"Meet your uncle Toris. He's my older brother." Xena said.

"Hello Uncle Toris. It's cool to know I have all this family." Solan said.

"Isn't he just the sweetest child?" Cyrene said.

"Where did he get that from?" Toris asked sarcastically.

"You know what..." Xena put him in a headlock.

"Hey, get off!" Toris exclaimed. "Darn! When did you get so strong?"

"Ok, Xena. Let him go." Cyrene said.

Xena let Toris out of the headlock then he chased her outside.

"Aww! I miss this." Cyrene smiled. "You should run along and help your mom out there. She's stronger but your uncle's faster." Cyrene laughed and Solan ran outside then Gabrielle and Joxer came downstairs.

"Where's Xena and Solan?" Gabrielle asked.

"They're outside playing with Toris. I can't remember the last time I've seen Xena like this. It's nice to spend time with her." Cyrene said.

"I also think having Solan has taken a weight off her shoulders. It's always bothered her that she couldn't raise him." Gabrielle said.

"Yeah... How long have you known bout Solan?" Cyrene asked.

"I just found out last year when we met him." Gabrielle replied. "He's amazing."

Xena, Solan and Toris came back in the tavern laughing together.

"I don't know when this will happen again so we must have dinner together tonight." Cyrene said.

"Sounds like a good idea." Xena said.


	3. One Against an Army

One Against an Army

Xena, Joxer and Argo walked together while Gabrielle and Solan walked a few paces in front of them.

"I need some advice about something." Joxer started.

"What is it Joxer?" Xena asked.

"I love Gabrielle..." Joxer continued.

"Yeah." This was no shock to Xena. What else is new?

"You say that like you knew it already." Joxer said.

"I do. I mean it's kind of obvious. Even Solan saw that. The only one who doesn't know is Gabrielle." Xena said.

"So what should I do?"Joxer stared at the back of Gabrielle's head.

"Tell her. At least if she doesn't feel the same way you'll know and you can move on." Xena replied. "Here's what I wanted to talk to you about. I never know what kind of situations I'm going to come across on our travels and my number one concern has always been Solan. I would really appreciate it if you could stay close to us so that when these situations come up you could keep Solan out of harms way, go somewhere safe with him until it's all over."

"Sure. I can do that. You and Gabby are my best friends and I would do anything for both of you, besides, I love the little guy. It means a lot to me that you trust me that much." Joxer said.

"Just leave the ass kicking up to me and Gabrielle." Xena said.

They all stopped to take a break.

"Xena I want to attempt your famous flip again!" Gabrielle set up her staff so that she would be able to flip over it.

"I've calculated the flip perfectly." Gabrielle said.

"So what foot do I start on?" Xena asked.

"I think I'm almost ready to try without a staff." Gabrielle said.

"Gabrielle, I tried that flip three hundred times with a staff before I tried it without it." Xena said.

"Slow learner huh?" Gabrielle said.

"Just so you know-" Xena started.

"-It's the right foot." Joxer and Solan joined in.

Gabrielle attempted the flip with the staff and landed perfectly.

"Great, can we go now?" Xena asked.

"No. I just need to try it once without the staff." Gabrielle was so excited.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Solan warned.

"Trust me. I can do this." Gabrielle was getting pumped up.

"No. I think you should listen to Solan." Joxer chimed in.

Gabrielle attempted the flip without the staff.

"Wrong foot." Xena said.

Gabrielle fell and hurt her left ankle.

"I'm ok!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"We told you not to try it." Xena said.

Xena and Joxer helped Gabrielle up. She was trying to walk but she had to limp. She wouldn't let Xena help her. They continued with their journey and watched Gabrielle do a bad job of pretending she wasn't in pain.

"You should ride Argo for a while." Xena suggested.

"I'm fine!" Gabrielle insisted.

"Gabrielle get down!" Xena yelled, Gabrielle quickly got down to the grown, Xena threw her chakram at Gabrielle's left ankle to rip her boot open so she could take it off and clean up her ankle.

"Xena! You're buying me new boots." Gabrielle said.

"Fine but for now you're going to ride Argo and elevate that foot." Xena said.

"Xena!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"You know, you'd think you'd learn to listen to me by now. Not listening to me just seems to get you in trouble." Xena said.

Gabrielle got on Argo with her foot elevated and they continued on their journey. Along the way they learned they had to defend Greece from being invaded by the Persian Army.

"Joxer, this is one of those times we talked about. I need you and Solan to go back the way we came and stop at the nearest town. We'll meet you there when it's all over." Xena walked over to Solan and hugged him. "I love you. This is dangerous but I have to do it so go with Joxer and listen to him, ok? Gabrielle and I will see you later tonight."

"...Ok. I love you too. Be careful." Solan replied.

"I will. I promise." Xena said.

Solan and Joxer went on their way and Gabrielle and Xena continued on the path they started on.

"Don't you think I should go with them? I'll just slow you down." Gabrielle said.

"No. I may need an extra set of hands." Xena replied.

"What did you talk to Joxer about?" Gabrielle asked.

"I need him to look after Solan when situations like this come up. I can't focus if I'm worrying about him getting hurt." Xena explained.

Along the way, a man pretending to be a Spartan came out and told a bunch of lies that Xena saw right through but she used the fact that she knew he was actually a Persian to her advantage. She got him to walk ahead of her then she saw the Persian's ready to attack.

"That guys' not a Spartan. I'll explain how I know later. I need you to go back until this fight is over." Xena said and Gabrielle road Argo out of the way while Xena won the fight with the first gang of Persians. Afterward, she and Gabrielle continued to the village. Xena set up a hut for battle and put Gabrielle at the top so that she could knock some water over when the time was right.

Right on time, the Persian Army came bursting in and being the one woman army that Xena is she was beating the Persians asses, kick, kick, sword, flip, punch. Gabrielle knocked the water down right on cue. She beat so many of them, the rest gave up.

"All in a day's work." Xena said.

-v-

Solan and Joxer were eating dinner in town.

"Do you think mother and Gabrielle are alright?" Solan took a bite of chicken.

"Oh yeah! There's no better warrior than your mom, not even the god of war. Trust me, they'll be back in no time." Joxer said.

Xena finally walked in. Gabrielle hopped in.

"Mom!" Solan ran to hug Xena while Joxer helped Gabrielle to their table.

"Did you have fun with Joxer?" Xena asked.

"Yes. Joxer's always fun." Solan said.

"What are we eating?" Xena and Solan joined Gabrielle and Joxer at the table.


	4. Gabrielle's Heart

Gabrielle's Heart

It's been a month since Solan had been with them but it's also been a month since she had to kill Hope in order to save Solan, save everyone really. She knew she had to do it but it didn't make it hurt any less. She loved Hope like any mother would love their child and though she loved Solan too it hurt even more to see Xena and Solan together. There was even a bit of resentment. Gabrielle had been ignoring her pain, hoping that it would go away if she did but it didn't work. It took her into a depression. Gabrielle's heart hurt more than she could ever imagine.

Gabrielle watched Xena and Solan together for a while then she got up and went over to a lonely rock and cried her eyes out. All the tears she had been holding back was released.

"I'm going to name her Hope. That's what she is, my hope." Gabrielle flashed back to the day Hope was born.

"I can't go on like this." Gabrielle thought. She went to Xena and told her she needed some time. Then she started in the direction of her hometown. Aphrodite appeared to Gabrielle.

"What's the matter, old friend? Why the sad tears?" Aphrodite asked.

"I really need to be alone right now." Gabrielle said.

"Maybe I can help. Come on Gabby!" Aphrodite pushed to get Gabrielle to talk.

"You wouldn't understand... I miss my daughter, Hope and I feel guilty for having to kill her. A husband wasn't enough, I had to lose a daughter too." Gabrielle said.

"I get it. You gave birth to her. You felt a bond. You loved her unconditionally. She was your daughter. Nothing anybody else thinks can change how you feel. No one loves as hard as you do." Aphrodite said.

"You do get it." Gabrielle said. Aphrodite nodded.

"Let me help you with this." Aphrodite said.

"No." Gabrielle said.

"Why, because I always mess things up when I use my powers?" Aphrodite asked but Gabrielle didn't reply giving Aphrodite her answer. "I won't screw it up!"

Aphrodite used her powers to send Gabrielle to a different world. Gabrielle looked around and saw that she was in her home village. She saw her mother, father and sister and suddenly Hope walked up to her with the most innocent smile then hugged her.

"I love you mommy." Hope said.

"I love you too." Gabrielle replied then they joined her family.

Gabrielle watched Hope grow up. The world went faster than the real world but it felt like normal time to Gabrielle. Hope got married and had children. It was beautiful. Gabrielle's heart was beginning to heal and her face found a smile. Suddenly she was back in this world with Aphrodite.

"I'm back." Gabrielle realized.

"How was your trip?" Aphrodite asked.

"It was wonderful... but why, how?"

"You can't change the past of this world but I hoped it would heal your heart to have warm loving memories of Hope. It all really happened for you, just not here. You know what happened here and you can learn from it but don't let it bruise your heart. You have the most beautiful heart I know. I want you to be able to move on. You've had tough times recently but things won't always be this way, however, the path you've chosen has led you here. Remember that when you're choosing what path to continue on." Aphrodite explained.

"Thank you." Gabrielle said.

"No problem!' Aphrodite said and then disappeared.

Gabrielle continued on to see her family feeling much better though she still had the pain of losing Hope, it was out weighted by those warm memories she now had. Seeing her family would be icing on the cake.

When Gabrielle got there Lila, Gabrielle's sister was tending to the horses.

"What's going on?" Gabrielle asked.

Lila hugged her, surprised to see her.

"Not much." Lila replied.

"Hey, what's wrong with this horse? I don't recognize this one." Gabrielle noticed a sad dark brown horse with a black mane and began to pet it.

"That's Brownie. Elpide's daughter. She's sad because Elpide died a few weeks ago." Lila explained.

"Poor Brownie." Gabrielle said.

"I'll go tell mother and father you're here." Lila left.

"It's hard to lose someone you love. I understand. I've felt the same way recently but you can't stop living. You can't give up." Gabrielle said to Brownie after picking up a brush and brushing her. Brownie began to respond Gabrielle's affection, her heart.

Lila walked in with their parents.

"You did it! Brownie hasn't looked at anyone for weeks she's been so depressed. She seems to like you." Lila said.

"Hmm... Can I have her and take her with me?" Gabrielle asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Gabrielle's father replied.

Gabrielle spent a couple days with her family then road off on Brownie to meet Xena. Xena was surprised to see Gabrielle ride in on a horse.

"Who's horse is this?" Xena asked.

"Mine! Meet Brownie." Gabrielle said.

"Brownie? That's an interesting name for a horse." Solan said.

"It's about time I got one, don't you think?" Gabrielle asked.

"Definitely." Xena replied. "How was your trip? Do you feel better?"

"Much better. I can move on now... And I'm so grateful to have my family, including you and Solan and my friend Aphrodite." Gabrielle said.

"Aphrodite?" Xena was surprised. "We're lucky to have you too. You have the best heart I know. You're like a little sister to me...I've always wanted a little sister."

"And you're like an aunt to me!" Solan exclaimed.

"We're family until the end." Xena said.

_Side note: I just thought 5 yrs was way too long for Gabrielle to get a horse in the series. I had to speed up her getting a horse to 3 ½ yrs lol. Hope you've all are enjoying. MUCH more to come!_


	5. Ares' Love

Ares' Love

Xena was walking back to meet Gabrielle and Solan in the town nearby. She had to handle some quick business in the village. Xena suddenly stopped walking after sensing Ares' presence.

"I smell scum! Show yourself!" Xena yelled and Ares appeared in front of her.

"How do you always manage to do that?" Ares asked with a smile.

"What do you want, Ares?" Xena asked, annoyed.

"What's this I hear about you having a son?" Ares asked.

"You know. How much has this news spread?" Xena was concerned. In the back of her mind she always wondered how many enemies she still had who would be so filled with hate to take it out on her son just to get revenge.

"It hasn't spread much amongst the mortals but all the other gods know. So tell me Xena, did I father this child?" Ares asked violating Xena's space and stroking her cheek.

"No!" Xena exclaimed pushing Ares away. "You wish." Xena continued to walk and Ares walked with her.

"I do. So who was the lucky guy?" Ares asked.

"...Borias." Xena said.

"Borias? Borias! Are you kidding me?" Ares said not being his usual cool self. Xena looked at him like he was being ridiculous.

"What's it to you anyway?" Xena asked.

"I just- I don't get it. Why not me? Why not join me as my beautiful warrior queen?" Ares asked. Xena laughed. "That's harsh."

"It's never going to happen." Xena said.

"There's no other woman I'd want to be my wife." Ares stated. Xena stopped walking and faced Ares.

"Why? Because you love me?" Xena asked not in the mood for ridiculousness. Ares didn't respond. "Well do you? Say it, Ares. Tell me you love me." Ares still didn't say anything. "Ok, so shut up and leave me alone." Xena continued walking to town without Ares. She was almost there before he appeared again."

"What?" Xena asked irritated.

"I do love you." Ares admitted.

"Right, Ares, the god of war who intentionally tries to take people away from their love and fill people with hate so that they can spend their lives hurting people claims that he loves me. Let's not even count all the things you've done to me over the years, all the tricks you've played like the furies for example, oh and pretending to be my father but I always win... and you know what, I'm starting to think that turns you on. Even when I kick your ass, I think that turns you on. It's a bit sick, I must say." Xena said and Ares just shrugged his shoulders because he knew she had a point.

"Ok... you're right but I do love you. I'm the god of war. I can love, I have a heart too. I just don't know what to do with it. That's Aphrodite's specialty." Ares said and Aphrodite appeared.

"You rang?" Aphrodite asked. She knew Ares didn't really call her but she was bored.

"And then there was two." Xena said. "Did you put a spell on him?" Xena jokingly asked Aphrodite.

"Nope." Aphrodite replied.

Ares moved closer to Xena, he kissed her neck and then her lips. Surprisingly she didn't move away but she didn't really kiss him back either. She did, however, get a chill.

"Get – get over yourself." Xena said stuttered trying to maintain her tough exterior even though on the inside she was melting. Ares smirked, seeing that she felt something to some extent then shook his head.

"Well since I'm here, how's the little Warrior Prince anyway?" Ares asked

"My son is not going to be a warrior and you stay away from him. I don't need you corrupting him." Xena said.

"Oh! I'm hurt. That's what you think I do, corrupt?" Ares asked.

"Yes!" Xena exclaimed finally arriving at the store where Solan and Gabrielle were.

"Hi mother!" Solan said happily.

"Cute kid." Ares said.

"Now go." Xena said to Ares.

"Fine but I still love you." Ares disappeared.

"What was that about?" Gabrielle asked.

"Ares loves Xena and she has a thing for him too." Aphrodite said.

"I do not!" Xena exclaimed.

Gabrielle noticed Solan in a daze as he stared at Aphrodite.

"Solan?" Gabrielle called but he still didn't snap out of it. "Solan, this is Aphrodite." Gabrielle said.

"Aph-Aphrodite... Hi." Solan said with the biggest smile on his face.

"I think my son has a crush on you." Xena said to Aphrodite.

"Yeah, I tend to have that effect on the boys." Aphrodite went over to Solan and stroked his blond hair once. "Hi Solan!" Solan fainted.

"I did not see that coming." Xena said picking him up then waking him.

"I just dreamed of the most beautiful-" Solan started.

"Hi!" Aphrodite stood in front of him. A big grin came across Solan's face. He was speechless all over again. "Aww! He's so adorable. I remember when Cupid was this age. I'm going to go before the little guy faints again. Bye!" Aphrodite disappeared but Solan was still stuck in a daze with a smile on his face.

"I can't believe this." Xena said. After a few minutes Solan finally went back to normal.

"Mom, can I have these boots?" Solan went to pick up the ones he wanted.

"Yes. You've almost outgrown your old ones. You're growing so fast." Xena said and they paid for Solan's boots. Afterward, they continued with their journey and met up with Joxer. Solan and Joxer walked ahead of Xena, Gabrielle, Argo and Brownie.

"Do you really have a thing for Ares?" Gabrielle asked.

"No." Xena replied to the question as if it was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard.

"Xena, come on. I'm your best friend. Tell me the truth. Do you love Ares?" Gabrielle asked curiously.

"...What I feel for Ares is not love. I've been in love before – I've even been in love with him before but what I feel for Ares now is more like... lust." Xena finally admitted after taking a while to answer. "If you ever repeat that to anyone I'll deny it."

"So you don't want to be with Ares?" Gabrielle asked.

"No." Xena said really meaning it but she wouldn't mind a good roll in the hay but no good could come of that. "Besides, he's always been bad for me and he always will be."


	6. Hercules

_Season 4_

Hercules

It's been six months since Solan had been with Xena and Gabrielle. Xena and Solan have really been able to take it all in that it's real and they really have each other now. Xena has her son and Solan has his mother. They've all been able to get to know each other and get comfortable as a family. Solan was enjoying all the new places he got to see and things he got to do. They even went to Egypt and he was able to meet the one and only Cleopatra.

Xena had been choosing her battles more carefully and made sure Solan wasn't around for any of them. Joxer knows the cue to whisk Solan away when there's trouble. It became Joxer's top priority to help protect Solan. He may not have been a great warrior but that was one thing he could do. He would do anything for the three of them. Joxer left them a few miles back to meet up with Meg. He said he'd come back in a couple days.

They rode their horses to the village of Cori. Once they got there, there was a fight going on between a bunch of guys with swords, Iolaus and the one and only Hercules.

"We have to help them." Gabrielle said.

"Get the horses and Solan to safety, I'll go." Xena said then flipped off of Argo into the center of the fight while doing her famous entrance cry and Gabrielle got out the way with Solan and the horses. Xena quickly helped them win the fight. "Looked like you needed a little assistance." Xena said to Hercules.

"You can't get any better than the Warrior Princess." Hercules hugged Xena.

"Hello Xena." Iolaus said.

"Hey." Xena replied as Gabrielle and Solan walked up and join them.

"Gabrielle!" Iolaus greeted happily.

"Hercules, Iolaus, I'd like you to meet my son, Solan." Xena said. Hercules and Iolaus were caught off guard by the statement. They had to pause for a second.

"Hello Solan." Hercules said.

"Hercules, THE Hercules?" Solan asked excited.

"Uh... yeah." Hercules didn't see himself as a big celebrity like many did.

"Cool!" Solan exclaimed.

"Hercules and I are really good friends." Xena said.

"We were on our way to get something to eat. You all want to join us?" Hercules asked.

After the meal, Gabrielle and Iolaus wanted to take a walk and Solan really wanted to go so Xena let him. That left Xena and Hercules alone so they slowly walked to Hercules' house while they talked.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a son?" Hercules asked.

"No one knew, it was for his protection but Hope killed his father who took him in so he's with me now and I'm not the person I used to be." Xena explained.

"How long are you all staying?" Hercules asked.

"Probably a few days." Xena replied.

"You're all welcomed to stay at my place, I have plenty of room." Hercules said.

"I think we'll take you up on that." They arrived at Hercules' house and got the fireplace going.

"It's really cool out today." Hercules said.

"Yeah, it's going to get cold soon. I should probably settle down for the winter since I have Solan now. It's been so long since I've stayed in one place for an entire season." Xena said.

"It's cute seeing you all maternal." Hercules said.

"It's cute? I never thought of myself as _cute_." Xena said.

"Well obviously, you're a lot more than _cute_ but it's nice to see you like this." Hercules said and Xena smiled then the room fell silent. They looked at each other and laughed then looked at each other again and slowly leaned in for a kiss but Gabrielle and Solan walked in before their lips met.

"Hey! Did you have fun with Gabrielle and Iolaus?" Xena asked, not wanting Gabrielle and Solan know what almost happened.

"Yes." Solan said.

"Hercules is letting us stay here until we leave so let's get you to bed. I think I'm going to call it a night as well. Thanks for letting us stay." Xena said.

"No problem." Hercules replied and Xena and Solan went to bed.

"I guess I'll turn in too." Gabrielle said.

The next morning Xena woke up with Solan still sound asleep next to her. She stroked his long blonde hair then got up. Gabrielle was still asleep in the room next door. Xena went into the kitchen where she found Hercules cooking breakfast.

"Good morning. I thought you all might want a nice breakfast." Hercules said.

"Thanks, that would be nice." Xena said. "...About last night... I don't know what came over us. I mean we decided to just be friends a long time ago."

"Yeah I guess it was just the mood." Hercules agreed.

Soon enough, breakfast was ready so Gabrielle and Solan joined Xena and Hercules. After they all got cleaned up for the day Hercules played with Solan outside.

"Hercules is good with Solan." Gabrielle said.

"Of course he is." Xena said.

"Solan loves him." Gabrielle said.

"What's not to love?" Xena thought to herself.

Later Xena, Solan and Gabrielle went fishing with Iolaus.

"When I was a little girl I would fish with your Uncle Lycius all the time. We were really close." Xena told Solan.

"It must've been nice to grow up with brothers." Solan said.

"Yeah it was." Xena replied.

"I think I caught one!" Solan yelled and Xena helped him reel it in.

"Whoa! You've got a huge one! Good job!" Xena exclaimed.

"I can't wait to catch another!" Solan was excited.

"Go on! I'm going to head back, I'll see you guys in a little while." Xena said.

"I guess you're cooking tonight." Gabrielle said.

"I'm not cooking." Xena said then hugged Solan before she left. It was rare that the warrior princess took the time to just relax, clear her mind and focus on nothing. She went back to Hercules' house, he was out and she didn't expect him back anytime soon so she took a nice hot bath until she was ready to get out. After wrapping a towel around herself, she decided she had a quick taste for fruit before she decided to get dressed again. Xena headed to the kitchen and grabbed a few of the delicious red grapes from the fruit bowl but before she could eat the last one and head to her room Hercules came back. She looked up, surprised to see him so soon then looked down at herself remembering all she was wearing was towel.

"Oh I didn't expect anyone back so soon." Xena said before she noticed his vest off and blood on his chest. "Oh you're hurt." She went over to him, forgetting what she was wearing or better yet the lack of. "Let me take care of that." She said getting her healing kit. He went to sit on his bed in his room just a few feet away. She sat next him after coming back with her kit. "Who managed to do this to you?"

"Ares and I go into a brawl, the usual. A lot of fun having him for a brother." Hercules said sarcastically.

"He got you pretty bad here."

"It hurts as bad as it looks but I'm sure even a god couldn't handle the pain of being thrown into stone after the way I threw him."

"You two probably have the worst case of sibling rivalry in history." Xena joked after tending to his wound and bandaging it.

"Thanks." Hercules smiled. Her eyes couldn't help but roam his muscular, tan body and he couldn't help but think about the fact that she was sitting next to him on his bed in nothing but a towel. Both acknowledged the attraction they had for each other to themselves but neither wanted to actually say it out loud. "I want to show you something." Hercules broke the silence and growing sexual tension in the air and went over to a table and picked up a scroll, handed it to her and sat next to her again."I found it in town, I thought it might be Gabrielle's." Hercules said.

"Yeah it's Gabrielle's. She's been looking for this. It's one of the few poems she has written." Xena began to read it. "I open up my heart to you like no other. My body, mind and soul was made for you. I look no further. No matter how the wind blows or the sun shines, you will always be with me, in my heart, forever." Xena looked up and Hercules had moved closer to her.

"That was beautiful, almost as beautiful as you are." Hercules said. They just looked into each others eyes. Xena dropped the scroll and kissed Hercules passionately. They decided to stop pretending that the tension didn't exist and gave into it. Hercules snatched the towel off of her in one instance and she quickly got him out of those leather pants. He planted kisses and caressed all over her body but this was becoming but a tease to Xena and she didn't want to wait much longer. She had fantasized enough in her head but this was real, this she could feel. Hercules seemed to be doing more things to tease her, seemingly on purpose.

"Why must you tease me Hercules? We've waited long enough." Xena finally said in a breathy tone.

It's been a long time, real long time, years even.

-v-

Solan, Gabrielle and Iolaus were making their way back on the horses with the fish.

"We caught so much fish!" Solan exclaimed.

"You caught a lot yourself, wait until we show your mom." Gabrielle said. "You know, you're a lot like her in the best ways."

"You think?" Solan asked.

"Yes. I agree."Iolaus said. Solan smiled.

"You think I'm anything like my father?" Solan asked.

"From what your mom says, you possess a lot of his best qualities." Gabrielle said.

"I miss my uncle Kaliepus but I am glad that I get to be with my mom." Solan said.

The three of them finally got back to Hercules' house. When they entered, Xena and Hercules were by the fireplace playing a word game.

"Look at all the fish we caught!" Solan exclaimed.

"Who's cooking?" Gabrielle asked.

"We know who's not cooking." Iolaus said and they all laughed.

"Since I didn't help catch any of this fish I'll cook it." Hercules said.

"Oh, Gabrielle here's that scroll you were looking for. Hercules found it... It's really beautiful." Xena handed her the scroll.

"Thanks! I wrote this after I got married. It means a lot to me." Gabrielle said.

The next morning Xena and Gabrielle were up brushing the horses because they were getting ready to leave soon.

"It was fun being here, wouldn't you agree?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yeah." Xena said simply.

"Do you ever think about settling down in one place?" Gabrielle asked.

"You mean like when I'm old and I can't do flips and stuff?" Xena asked.

"No." Gabrielle laughed. "Like soon." Gabrielle replied.

"Sometimes I do because I want to give Solan a stable environment but he likes the travel. I'm more of the type to stay on the go. Besides, didn't you decided to come with me in the first place because you wanted adventure?" Xena asked.

"Yeah, we've had lots of those." Gabrielle replied.

"I have thought about settling down for the winter. It's not so much fun for a kid to travel when it's cold, either that or go some place where it's warm all year around... Honestly, I don't know what I want to do. I don't really want to settle in one place, however, I'll do whatever seems best for Solan but as we both know, home isn't always a place, sometimes it's a person or people and I think that no matter where we are, as long as we're all together we'll be fine." Xena said and Solan came outside. "Solan, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Solan replied. "Will we visit again?"

"Of course." Xena said.

Iolaus walked up to them.

"I came to say goodbye." Iolaus said.

"But not for long." Gabrielle replied then Hercules came outside.

"Bye! I'm going to miss you." Solan said hugging Hercules.

"I'll miss you too." Hercules replied and Xena walked over to him.

"I guess this is where we part ways... Be safe." Xena said.

"You too." They hugged then Xena and Solan got on Argo, Gabrielle got on Brownie and rode off.

* * *

_What do you all think so far and how do you feel about Hercules and Xena?_


	7. Life: Part I

_Thanks for reading and your reviews. I wasn't aware that the way I was writing could be confusing so I'll try to improve on that and it was brought to my attention that longer chapters would be better. There are definitely a few really healthy chapters coming up later but since this one is fairly short, I'm posting up two chapters at the same time._

* * *

Life: Part I

Six weeks had passed and Xena decided she wanted to get out of Greece for a while and explore some new land and she thought it'd be a great experience for Solan but Gabrielle and Joxer too so the four headed to India. It was beautiful and nothing at all like Greece.

"This place is amazing!" Solan exclaimed. "Mom, have you ever been here before?"

"No, I haven't." Xena replied.

"So we get to experience something for the first time together." Solan said and Xena hugged him.

"Yeah we do!" Xena replied.

They tried new foods and new things but as usual they just started on a journey just to see what they would find. What they found was a man healing whoever needed it, all types of problems, things that seemed impossible to heal, he was able to do it.

"This is unbelievable." Gabrielle said.

"I'm sorry, my beautiful people but I must move on. I will be back tomorrow. God bless." The man said in a peaceful, loving tone. The man got up and began to be on his way. Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer caught up with him. "Hello. Can I help you all with anything?"

"No, we were just wondering how you healed all those people with just your hands." Gabrielle said.

"It's my gift. I heal people. That's my purpose, to heal and be a messenger of God." The man said.

"Who is this god?" Xena asked.

"The God, the one and only, the all knowing." The man replied.

"We've heard the concept of one God before but we know of many gods." Gabrielle said.

"You mean like Zeus and Ares." The man said.

"Yes." Xena said.

"Here's the story about those gods... You've heard about the titans?" The man asked and they confirmed that they did. "Those gods were originally mortals who were given powers in order to defeat the titans before they destroyed all of creation. They defeated the titans in battle then were supposed to give the powers back but they were so taken by the power that they proclaimed themselves as gods and have been that way every since. The powers made them immortal but as I said, they were never meant to remain that way."

"If your god is so great then why doesn't he just stop them?" Xena asked.

"He's not my God, he's everyone's God... and everything happens in it's own time. One day a special child will be born, he or she will grow up and bring about the twilight of the multiple gods." The man said.

"Do you actually think we can live in a world without them?" Gabrielle asked.

"There was a time when they didn't exist but it was so long ago that people don't remember. Zeus would never admit that because he wouldn't want people to know that they can actually live without him." The man said.

"So what does the God stand for?" Gabrielle asked.

"The way of love. Nothing is worth anything without it and hate only exists so that we can appreciate love that much more." The man said.

"I'm sorry, we never got your name." Gabrielle said.

"My name is Eli and you all are?" Eli asked.

"I'm Gabrielle and this is Xena, her son Solan and Joxer." Gabrielle said.

"It was nice meeting you all. Perhaps we'll meet again." Eli said and then walked on alone.

"What's next?" Gabrielle asked.

"Well I'm really tired so I just want to go back to the inn and take a nap." Xena said.

"...Ok, then we'll meet you there later." Gabrielle said.

"Solan, do you want to come with me or stick with Gabrielle and Joxer?" Xena asked.

"I'll come with you!" Solan replied. Xena and Solan went back to the inn while Gabrielle and Joxer went to explore some more. Back at the inn Solan started reading Gabrielle's scrolls from the beginning. It's something he had been wanting to do for the past several months but never had a chance. He loved and admired Xena so much that he wanted to know everything about her... well maybe not everything. He'd rather all the bad stuff be kept to his imagination. He knew that Xena had a period of time where she wasn't the best person but he didn't need to know the details. He knew she was a good person now and that was all that mattered to him.

Xena had been sleeping for a while but she suddenly woke up and ran into the bathroom. Solan was concerned. A few minutes later Xena came back and laid down again. Solan went over to her.

"Mother, are you alright? You haven't been feeling well for over a week now." Solan asked.

"I'm fine, really. It's just a little bug, that's all. I'll be better in no time. You have nothing to worry about." Xena assured him.

-v-

The next day Gabrielle found Eli again. She was interested in what he had to say so he took the time to talk to her one on one.

"So I understand the way of the God in which you speak is the way of love but what does that mean exactly?" Gabrielle asked.

"It just means to do everything with love and for love and do nothing with and for hate. That's the only way our souls can grow." Eli replied.

"My friend and I, we're warriors. I haven't always been, I just sort of became that way after spending four years with her... but I guess that's wrong."

"That depends, what are you fighting for?"

"We fight for the greater good but we don't exactly do it with love."

"It's good that you fight for the greater good but when you learn to fight with love for the people you're saving and not with hate for the people who are doing the hurting is when you'll be following the way."

"Xena says she's never seen a war won with love."

"Just because she's never seen it, doesn't mean she never will and I have a feeling she will soon enough. We all have gifts, some more than others but every gift is meant to make a difference in the world. It all depends on how you use it. Some good people have the gift of the warrior because there are some people who choose to work for the other side and everything in this world, this dimension needs a counterpart and if there are only people fighting for bad then where does that leave good? Everything needs to be balanced, just like there's no love without hate, no good without bad, no day without night. This is how we learn, how we choose and that's what we're all here for."

"I understand." Gabrielle smiled. "Is the way how you stay so peaceful and calm?"

"Yes but I'm only human. I meditate, that helps a lot."

"Can you teach me?"

"Sure we just need to find a place that's quiet."

They found a place out in the open where there were no people, a lake and grassed land for miles where they could be one with nature and have absolute peace. They met everyday for the next few days. He taught her how to meditate and she couldn't believe how at peace and in control she felt when she mediated. Everything seemed so clear and she felt happier. She definitely planned to continue mediating once she got back to Greece. She figured she'd try to get Xena to do it to but she also figured that the chances of that was slim to none.

-v-

Xena was gazing out of the window observing the people of India when Joxer and Solan came in from breakfast.

"We brought you something to eat." Solan said as he handed her the meal.

"Thanks." Xena said and took a seat in a nearby chair then began to eat like she hadn't eaten in days.

"I guess you're over not wanting to eat anything." Joxer said. "But you've been under the weather for a bit too long and you are the healthiest person I know. I think you should go see a healer."

"Like Eli?" Solan asked.

"Not exactly what I had in mind but that may not be such a bad idea." Joxer said. "Hey, Gabby has been spending a lot of time with him. You know how trusting she can be so quickly, do you think she's safe?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's harmless. He seems to practice what he preaches but I don't need to see Eli or anyone else because there's really nothing wrong with me, besides a healer really couldn't tell me much that I don't already know. Besides, I fell better, honestly." Xena continued to eat.

The four were planning to go shopping for some new garments that fit the culture so Gabrielle came back a little bit later so that they could leave together. Xena was in the room alone looking in the mirror trying to zip up her dress.

"Are you ready to go shopping?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yeah, can you help me zip this thing?" Xena asked and Gabrielle came over to help her but even she was having a hard time zipping it, finally she was able to, seconds later the zipper broke open and the side seams popped.

"Your good old signature leather doesn't seem to be fitting anymore. I guess you really have to go shopping now, huh? Think you should lay off the starches?" Gabrielle left the room.

"No... I think I'm pregnant." Xena turned to the side, still looking in the mirror. "But I shouldn't be popping out of my leather already, should I?"

* * *

_… __A lot of creatures from Xena were crossed over to Charmed like the furies and banshees and some others so I crossed the concept of how the Greek gods came to be from Charmed over to this story. I hope you all like the changes though_.


	8. Life: Part II

Life: Part II

Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer went to shop for something new to wear. Joxer chose a traditional, brown Indian outfit, Solan found something in cream that he really liked and Gabrielle found a green outfit with Indian styled pants and a beautiful top that showed off her mid drift. The three of them were still waiting for Xena.

"Xena, would you come out already?" Gabrielle asked.

"I don't know about this." Xena said from behind a curtain.

"Come on, you look great in anything." Joxer said and Xena finally came out wearing a red and gold outfit, a long skirt with a long split going up each side and a top that was draped around the front.

"You look great." Joxer said.

"Thanks." Xena said and they all finally moved on but they ran into an Indian woman being carried by six men to her death. Xena flipped into the center of the situation and stopped it before they laid her on a fire.

"What has this woman done?" Xena asked.

"Her husband has died, she must join him. It's the law." A man said.

"The law is about to be broken." Xena said then began to fight some men that tried to stop her. Then she got the woman up and had her run off with Joxer and Solan while she and Gabrielle fought the others off. Then they followed Joxer, Solan and the woman and got her some place safe and secluded.

"I don't know what you thought you were doing but you don't have to die just because your husband dies."Xena said.

"Everything happens for a reason. If I were not there for you to save me, I would not be here to help you." The woman said.

"Help me?" Xena questioned.

"Yes. I am Naima and I am here because you must travel to your future life in order to stop your greatest enemy, a great evil who is haunting your soul in the future and if you don't defeat her your karmic cycle will end along with all the good you are meant to do in all of your future lives." Naima said.

"My greatest enemy?" Xena asked.

"Yes, I don't know who." Naima said. Xena wondered who it could possibly be, it didn't sound like Callisto but it did sound like...

"Alti." Xena said.

"You can't defeat her there. You must bring her back here." Naima said.

"Bring Alti here?" Xena repeated thinking that was the worst idea she ever heard.

"Yes, you must but you will need the Mandhi, however, I don't have the time to teach you how to use it. I must send you now." Naima said.

"Then teach me the Mandhi and I'll go too." Gabrielle said.

"... Alright." Naima contemplated, not sure if it was the best idea but then sensed that it was the best idea.

"Wait! If I have to bring Alti back here Solan won't be safe. Joxer you must get Solan as far away from here as possible. Don't come back until this is all over." Xena said.

"Mother." Solan said and Xena went over to him.

"Everything will be fine but you have to go with Joxer right now. I love you." Xena hugged him. "Now go." Joxer got Solan as far away as possible and before Xena had any time to think Naima sent her to her future life. In the mean time, Naima taught Gabrielle how to use the Mandhi.

"Our souls are on a spiritual journey and we continue to grow with each life. In each life there are souls that are intertwined, souls that we find in almost every life that we live, some friends, some enemies, like you and Xena, even Joxer and Solan, others as well. Unfortunately, evil souls like Alti are also intertwined in that mix. Believe me, the people who are the most important in your life and make the biggest difference are important for a reason... I've taught you all you need to know. Remember, Xena mustn't kill Alti there, she must bring her back here. I will put this in the wall over there so that you can find it when you get to the future." Naima said and then sent Gabrielle to the future.

-v-

Joxer and Solan had gotten far away and were sitting by a beautiful lake.

"Who is Alti?" Solan asked.

"A very bad woman, evil." Joxer said.

"Is it a burden for me to be around, you all always having to protect me?"

"Of course not, all we do is go around and protect people, what's the use of having the ability to do that if you can't protect your own family? Your mom does most of the protecting though, then Gabrielle but me I'm no warrior but I have the heart of a warrior. I always screw things up but one thing I can do is help keep you safe and that makes me happy, makes me feel like I have a purpose other than just tagging along with your mom and Gabrielle. Now I feel needed and you know something, I've never seen your mom as happy as she has been since she's been with you." Joxer said, Solan smiled.

"Joxer, when are you going to tell Gabrielle you love her? It's so obvious except to her."

"When the time is right."

"Is time ever really right?" Solan asked as he skipped a rock into the water.

-v-

Xena and Gabrielle returned to the present through the fire in which the people were going to kill Naima and Alti soon followed.

"So I get another chance and not only have you brought me back but you brought my powers back as well." Alti said then Xena charged at Alti with a staff but Alti used one of Xena's past experiences to knock her down. "And it seems the Warrior Princess is with child again. A shame I cursed the first to never know either of his parents."

"You cursed my son?" Xena asked angrily. Alti laughed. "Unfortunately for you, it didn't work as well as you thought."

"What?" Alti asked angrily.

"The remedy to any curse is pure love." Gabrielle said reflecting on something Eli had said to her. This just angered Alti even more. Xena finally stood to her feet and went to attack again. Alti went for her favorite move, breaking Xena's legs from her past experience with Caesar. Xena fell to the ground in agonizing pain. Seeing her best friend in such pain instantly ruined Gabrielle's zen so her immediate response was to attack Alti but Alti picked Gabrielle up and used her power to bring back the pain of being shot with a poisoned arrow then dropped her to the ground.

"Stupid little girl. Now, back to the princess." Alti said then used her power to hurt Xena's unborn child. Xena screamed in pain then Naima stepped in with her power. The Mandhi began to glow on Xena and Gabrielle and that's how the three defeated her. Naima then used her power to heal Gabrielle, Xena and her unborn child.

"You've defeated Alti when she was the most powerful." Naima said.

"So it's over?" Xena asked.

"For now. Alti's evil soul will be reincarnated many times but you will always be there to defeat her." Naima replied.

"How wonderful. Looking forward to that." Xena said sarcastically. Naima magically disappeared into the air.

"We made it through again." Gabrielle said and they headed back to the inn.

"Xena... Alti said that... you were pregnant. Is that true?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yes." Xena replied.

"Did you know already?"

"Pretty much." Xena replied then Gabrielle just stared at Xena's stomach.

"So who? Who's the father? Ares? Xena, please don't tell me it's Ares. He's been begging you to give him an heir for years. Please, don't tell me you gave in."

"Of course not!"

"Then who?" Gabrielle gasped after a revelation. "Hercules?" Xena looked away and Gabrielle anxiously waited for an answer.

"Yes." Xena finally said.

"Of course it is!" Gabrielle got excited. "Everyone else she's had a thing for is dead." Gabrielle thought to herself. "What does this mean? Are you going to be together?"

"No. We decided to just be friends years ago."

"Obviously, something has changed."

"He's been married since then."

"He's not married now. I know you love him but do you love him as more than just a friend?"

"...Yes. I never really stopped I just moved on. You remember how I said I didn't love Ares, I just lusted him?"

"Yeah."

"Well this is nothing like that. I really love Hercules, not that I don't lust him too because whoa... but I love him a lot." In fact, she loved him so much, it scared her a little. Not only did she love him but she loved him and he was good for her. She couldn't think of one man who she loved in her past who was actually good for her.

"Then you should tell him, he probably feels the same way. How did I miss this? I saw the way you were looking at each other. I noticed you were sleeping more than usual but I didn't think anything of it... Now you have to tell Solan." Gabrielle's mind was running all over the place, every thought different for the last.

"I'm not sure how he'll feel. We haven't had much time together, now he'll have to share the attention." Xena was concerned. Solan and Joxer finally came back. Solan went right to Xena and hugged her.

"Solan, ever wonder what it'd be like to have a brother or sister?" Gabrielle asked trying to give Xena an opening to tell Solan.

"Sure, I never thought it was possible before though." Solan said then Xena sat him down.

"Well... now you know it's possible and it'll happen sooner rather than later." Xena said.

"What do you mean?" Solan asked.

"In about seven and half months, I'm going to have another baby." Xena said.

"...Oh." Solan sounded disappointed.

"You don't sound too happy." Xena pointed out.

"It's just that... if you're going to have a new baby you don't need me anymore." Solan said.

"Solan, I have loved you more and more everyday since I knew were inside me and nothing could ever change that. I'll love you both, we'll be a family and now you'll have a sibling to play with like I had with my brothers. Do you understand that nothing could ever change how I feel about you, ever?" Xena asked, Solan nodded and smiled.

"This explains a lot." Joxer said.

"What do you mean?" Gabrielle asked.

"She's been sick, sleeping more often and have you seen the way she eats?" Joxer said.

"I know she got sick once on the boat but..." Gabrielle started.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Eli so you've been missing a lot. Xena's the healthiest person we know, just that incident alone didn't seem strange to you?" Joxer said.

"I didn't think about it." Gabrielle said.

"So who's this baby's father?" Solan asked.

"...Hercules." Xena replied.

"When are you going to tell him?" Gabrielle asked.

"When we go back to Greece, I'll tell him..." Xena said.


	9. Birthday

Birthday

Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer had spent a month in India but were now back in Greece, back in their regular attire, well Xena had a new outfit. The old one didn't fit and she really didn't feel like fixing it. It was time for a change anyway. She now wore an all black dress, a few inches longer than the last. The bust was purely leather with a gold breast plate. The rest was simple, something breathable unlike the all leather dress she was used to with no give. It's a lot colder now so they all got coats to keep them warm.

Once they got to Greece they found the horses. They had been traveling for a few days to see Gabrielle's family for her birthday. Her family was happy to see her and had a cake baked for her. They were excited to hear about her adventure to India and her new outlook on life.

The four stuck around for a few days then made their way to Amphipolis. Gabrielle and Solan's birthday happen to be just a few days apart so Xena had sent word to her mother that Solan's birthday was coming up and they would be spending it there. This would be the first time Xena would be spending Solan's birthday with him and the first time Solan would be spending his birthday without Keliepus so they wanted to make his eleventh birthday special.

They finally arrived in Amphipolis after a week. They arrived to Xena's mother's tavern and when they opened the door they heard, "Surprise!" Toris and Cyrene were there with a cake.

"Happy birthday, Solan." Xena said.

"For me?" Solan was surprised. He didn't expect much but he was happy either way. "Thanks, grandmother!"

"Anything for my grandson!" Cyrene smiled. "I made dinner too. Let's eat." They had dinner then ate the cake. "Time for presents!" Each of them had a special gift for him.

"Thanks everyone!" Solan exclaimed. His face was lit up like a star. Then Aphrodite appeared. "Aphrodite." Solan said with eyes like a love struck puppy.

"Not again." Xena thought then laughed to herself.

"I just wanted to see the little guy and wish him a happy birthday. So Solan, how's it going so far?" Aphrodite asked.

"Great." Solan said in a daze over Aphrodite. They all thought it was kind of cute. Xena walked outside and looked up at the stars, Cyrene soon followed.

"It's a beautiful night." Cyrene said.

"Yeah it is." Xena replied. "Thanks for doing all this. I really wanted Solan's birthday to be special. I didn't expect Aphrodite to show. I think that may have been icing on the cake for him. I can't believe he has a crush on her. It's cute, I guess. It was important that I reassured him that nothing was going to change because I was having another baby but I think he's taking it pretty well." Cyrene's eyes widened.

"Wait a minute, did you just say you're having another baby?"

"Yes. I'm pregnant." Xena said. Cyrene just looked at her for a few seconds because she really didn't see it coming.

"Congratulations! Two grandchildren in one year... and I've gotten to see you and Toris more. I'm ecstatic. It must be my lucky year. Who's the father?"

"...Hercules."

"Hercules. THE Hercules?"

"Yes." Xena replied simply.

"How? When? No, never mind. Are you together?"

"No but to answer your other questions, we met about four years ago. We fell in love but we didn't make anything of it, we just remained friends. He was the one who changed me, sent me on this new path, one you can actually be proud of... He doesn't know yet. When we leave here we're going to head to Cori so that I can to tell him." Xena explained then touched her very small, barely there baby bump then Cyrene touched too.

"The child of Xena and Hercules, what a special child this will be and good just like both its parents." Cyrene said and Xena smiled.

"Let's go back inside." Xena said. "Did my birthday boy enjoy his birthday?" Xena hugged Solan.

"It was the best, more than I dreamed it could be." Solan replied.

* * *

_So this chapter is pretty short... like the Solan birthday special lol... But I'm putting up 2 chapters at the same time so check it out :). Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you're enjoying it so far._


	10. Hercules' Baby

Hercules' Baby

Xena, Solan and Gabrielle stayed at Cyrene's tavern for an entire week. Joxer left a few days earlier. It was a while before they were back in Cori but they finally arrived. When they got there they ran into Iolaus. Gabrielle and Solan tagged along with him so that Xena could talk to Hercules alone when she found him. While she was walking, a man tried to attack her from behind and she gave him a good kick without even turning around.

"Nice try. When will they learn?" Xena asked herself. She kept walking until she saw Hercules helping some people. He noticed her when he was done.

"Xena!" He hugged her."How are you?"

"Fine. You?" Xena asked.

"Good." Hercules replied. "Where are Gabrielle and Solan?"

"They're with Iolaus... We should talk." They took a walk until they found a huge rock to sit on. "We didn't talk much about what happened between us before, that's not really like us."

"Xena-" Hercules started.

"I'm pregnant." Xena blurted out, cutting off whatever Hercules was going to say.

"...You're pregnant?" He asked looking at her stomach, though her stomach had grown some, the dress and coat were hiding it pretty well. She opened her long, black coat and put her hand on her baby bump to reveal that it was there. "You're pregnant. You're pregnant!"

"And it's yours if that wasn't already clear."

"Yeah I got that." They shared a small laugh. "You're pregnant! We're having a baby. Whoever saw that coming?" Hercules hugged her. "Wow. I wanted to be a father again..." After a few seconds, the expression on his face went from happy to worry.

"What's wrong?"

"I really want to be happy it's just that Hera already killed my first family and Ares got my second wife killed. What if one of them or someone else tries to hurt this baby, kills them?" Hercules said. Xena hadn't thought about that before.

"We won't let that happen... we'll stay a step ahead of them."

"How?"

"I don't know how but we will. Something I learned in India is to have faith and we need to have faith that this baby will be alright." Xena said and put Hercules' hand on her stomach.

"So how are we going to do this, parent together?"

"I don't know but we're sticking around for a while so we can figure it out."

"You know as long as you're all here you all have a place to stay." Hercules said before Solan, Gabrielle and Iolaus found them.

"I understand congratulations are in order." Iolaus said.

"Yeah! We're having a baby." Hercules said.

Later that night after Xena tucked Solan in bed she talked to Gabrielle.

"Did you talk about your relationship?" Gabrielle asked.

"There's nothing to talk about. We're friends." Xena said then went to bed where Solan was already sleeping. Gabrielle slept in the next room. The next morning Xena smelled Hercules cooking breakfast so she went in the kitchen.

"Hungry?" Hercules asked.

"I can't eat right now. I've been sick all morning. It wasn't like this with Solan, by the time I reached this point I was over morning sickness. I would think the child of Hercules and Xena would make me stronger. I don't remember the last time I felt this bad." Xena said. Solan and Gabrielle joined them and they ate a wonderful breakfast together. Later Solan played with some of the kids that were around the neighborhood and Iolaus came over. It all felt so... normal. They kept this up for a couple months along with saving people who needed to be saved as usual.

Xena, Solan and Hercules were eating out when Xena felt the baby kick for the first time.

"Oh! Hercules, feel! The baby's kicking!" She placed his hand where he could feel.

"This kid has a mean kick." Hercules said.

"Well of course, it got it from me." Xena said. "Here Solan feel it." Solan felt the kick. "That's your little brother or sister in there." Suddenly they heard claps. They looked up and saw Ares walking toward them.

"If it isn't the big happy family." Ares said.

"What do you want?" Xena asked.

"I had to hear from somebody else that you're having a baby with my brother." Ares said.

"So?" Xena said with a nonchalant attitude.

"Why him? What's he got that don't got?" Ares asked.

"This is not the time or the place, nor do I care about your opinion or whatever about this. Do you care Herc?" Xena asked.

"No, I don't care." Hercules said.

"See." Xena said.

"This isn't over."Ares said before disappearing.

"I suppose you've heard that Ares claims he's in love with me. For that reason alone, he's not a threat to our baby." Xena said.

"Unless he wants revenge or something." Hercules said.

"Even if he tries, he'll never be able to go through with it. Trust me. He'd save this baby before he'd hurt it, even if it is your baby." Xena said.

"Because it's your baby." Hercules said.

"Exactly. Hera on the other hand, we need to look out for." Xena said. After lunch they headed back to Hercules' house but ran into Iolaus on the way.

"I'm going fishing, Solan, do you want to come?" Iolaus asked.

"Yes! Mom, can I go?" Solan asked.

"Sure. Be careful." Xena replied. "Where's Gabrielle?"

"She's back at my place meditating." Iolaus answered then Solan went off with him and Xena and Hercules headed back to the house. Hercules closed the door then kissed Xena.

"What was that?" Xena asked.

"Something to see if we both feel the same way because for some reason we won't tell each other how we feel and that's not even like us. Xena, I love you." Hercules said.

"... I love you too." Xena said. They kissed again then Hercules picked her up, carried her to his room and they made love. Afterward, they finally decided to get how they felt out on the table.

"I've known I loved you this way since the last time you were here." Hercules said.

"I've always known how I felt, I never really stopped. I just moved on. When you got married before... I was jealous. I said that I didn't care but I did. The problem is that I can't stay in one place for too long and sometimes you travel too. Where's the stability in a relationship like that?"

"You can't or you don't want to? You've been here two months and you've been fine. Besides, we're going to figure out how to raise this baby together, why can't we figure out how to be together?"

"Yeah but I'm leaving in a few weeks then I' ll come back before it's time for the baby to be born." Xena said. "I don't know, maybe we can compromise. Maybe we can travel together sometimes as a family and other times we can stay here as a family." Xena suggested.

"Maybe." Hercules said simply. Xena ran her hands through Hercules' hair and kissed him leading to them making love again.


	11. Back In the Habit

Back in the Habit

Xena and Solan were brushing Argo when Solan noticed Joxer walking up to them.

"Joxer!" Solan exclaimed running over to hug him. "I missed you."

"I didn't expect you to be away for so long." Xena said.

"Me either." Joxer said.

"We're leaving in a few days." Xena said.

"Where are we headed?" Joxer asked.

"Ultimately Amphipolis but we're going to make a stop at the centaur village." Xena said.

"Joxer!" Gabrielle exclaimed riding up on Brownie.

"Gabby! Aren't you a sight to see?" Joxer smiled. Xena and Solan shared a look, both wondering how Gabrielle hasn't figured out that Joxer is in love with her. If an eleven year old can figure it out, why can't she? Hercules and Iolaus walked up.

"Joxer, nice seeing you again." Hercules said. "Are you staying until they leave?"

"Yeah." Joxer replied.

"You can stay at my place if you want." Iolaus offered.

"Thanks." Joxer said.

A few mornings later Hercules smelled breakfast brewing from his room. He was confused and he had every right to be. Nobody really cooked except him so he went to see what was going on. He found Xena cooking breakfast. That was a sight he never thought he'd see. Hercules went behind her and began kissing her neck. She smiled.

"Stop, I don't want to have to try to explain this to Gabrielle or Solan if they come in here." Xena said. His kisses were causing her to do something she never did, at least not since she was a little girl which was blush. Then again, this pregnancy has been causing her to do things she never does like stop and smell roses, even dance. Yeah, dancing has been the strangest thing. Her tough exterior was totally being broken and the softy that lived inside was trying to make its way to the surface. The warrior princess just could not have that. She couldn't wait until this pregnancy was over so that she could go back to normal.

"You're making breakfast? I thought you couldn't cook. What's this about?" Hercules asked.

"My mom kind of let the cat out of the bag so I couldn't put it off much longer. I just don't like to cook, well I hate cooking but I can, pretty well actually. You've been spoiling us every since we've been here so I figured I'd pay you back since we're leaving today." Gabrielle and Solan came in.

"Guess who cooked." Hercules said.

"No. Xena, you did not cook." Gabrielle said in disbelief.

"Don't get used to it." Xena said. They set the table and began breakfast.

"This is good!" Solan exclaimed.

"Yeah, you do have many skills." Hercules said. Afterward, Xena, Solan and Gabrielle packed so that they could go. Xena finished before them and went to talk to Hercules.

"This is it for about a month or so." Xena ran her hands through Hercules' hair. "We'll be back before you know it." The baby began kicking. "I think the baby wants to say goodbye to daddy." Xena put Hercules' hand on her stomach.

"You've been different... in a good way." Hercules said.

"That's because I'm surrounded by people that bring out the best in me." Xena said. Hercules kissed her, they stopped when they heard footsteps coming their way.

"We're ready!" Solan exclaimed.

Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer took off on the horses.

"Gabrielle, are you going to be alright going back to the land of the centaurs after what happened the last time we were there?" Xena asked.

"I'm fine, really." Gabrielle replied. They arrived after a couple days. Everything still seemed a lot better than it did when they left. Xena really wanted to come to give Solan a chance to see everyone he had grown up with for the first ten years of his life.

"Xenan, I'll come back soon." Xena and Gabrielle heard Ephiny say to her son nearby and went over to talk to her.

"Ephiny." Gabrielle called.

"Gabrielle! Xena. I'm glad to see you. There's major trouble going on with the Amazons. We have to go to war. We need your help." Ephiny explained.

"What's going on?" Gabrielle asked.

"We were invaded by the Romans, they came and took some of the Amazons for slaves. We have to go to war to get them back." Ephiny said.

"Don't tell me it was Caesar's army." Xena said. Her insides were boiling at the the thought.

"I'm not sure. Could be." Ephiny said.

"Xena..." Gabrielle was worried Xena's other side might come out. It comes out pretty easily when Caesar is mentioned.

"I'm fine, Gabrielle." Xena said, calming herself and getting rid of the Caesar flashbacks that were suddenly on replay in her mind. "I can help you come up with a plan to defeat the Roman's but I can't go with you. I have to think about Solan and I can't put this baby at risk." Normally Xena would tough it out and go but she thought about her fight with Alti and how close she came to losing this baby and she didn't want to experience that again. If it was Caesar's army, no good could come of her coming in contact with him. She'd want to kill him first chance she got, if it were his army and she saw him. Now that Solan was in her care and she had another baby on the way, she knew she couldn't let her hate and anger rule her. Though she knew that, she couldn't promise not to let her hate and anger rule her in the heat of a moment. When she really snaps, it's instant, as easy as pressing a button.

"We have to fight them before they go back to Rome." Ephiny said.

They didn't stay in the centaur village long before Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer headed to the Amazon land with Ephiny. When they got there Xena and Gabrielle went with Ephiny and the other Amazons to devise a plan leaving Solan with Joxer.

"Who's Caesar?" Solan asked.

"An evil man." Joxer replied.

"Like Alti?"

"Yeah, they're about the same amount of evil only Caesar doesn't have powers like Alti did. I wouldn't mention him to your mom."

"Why?"Solan asked. He loved Joxer, he was a guy was who was around ninety percent of the time, he was dependable and he knew he'd always answer his questions.

"Let's just say they have history, a bad one." Joxer said. "And no one wants you to see your mom's bad side." Joxer thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Xena worked on a plan with the Amazons. Some of the other Amazon's found out that it wasn't Caesar's army but it was Caesar's enemy's army.

"That's better, right, since it isn't Caesar?" Ephiny asked.

"Yes but not much better and Caesar may not be too far behind, on the other hand he may not be a problem at all. Considering where they are..." Xena started explaining what they needed to do. It was dangerous but it would probably work.

"I don't know if I can do this without you." Gabrielle said.

"You have to, they need you, you're an Amazon queen. If you and Ephiny work together you can pull this off. I believe in you. I know you would prefer not to have to go to war but there's no other way out of this. I wish that I could be there to help you but I can't this time. It's hard for me to let you go through with this without me but every mother has to let there children leave the nest sometime. Not that I'm your mother but you know what I mean." Xena said and hugged her. "You always said you wanted more responsibility." Xena tried to lighten the mood.

"Gabrielle." One of the Amazons called and Gabrielle went over to them then Ephiny came over to Xena.

"I left Xenan with the centaurs, I know he's safe there but if I don't make it back could you just check in on him every now and then, look out for him?" Ephiny asked.

"Don't talk like that. You're coming back, you all are, with the ones the Romans took as well. You have to. Xenan needs his mother and Gabrielle is like a sister to me and I've gotten too used to having her around. The plan will work." Xena said.

Xena felt bad that she couldn't go with them and she was going to worry until it was all over. The Amazons went to war and in the mean time Xena headed to Amphipolis with Solan and Joxer. On the way there, Xena realized a man was following them so she got off Argo and pulled her along with Solan still riding. This way she'd be in a better position when he attacked her but she didn't want him to realize that she realized he was following them. Finally he attacked, he wasn't even good at it. She knocked the sword out of his hand and then kicked him to the ground. Kicking isn't as easy as it was a few months ago.

"Who sent you?" Xena yelled at him.

"No one!" The man said. Xena put the pinch on him. This is the first time Solan had ever seen it.

"I just cut off the circulation of blood to your brain, you have sixty seconds to live now I'm asking you again, who sent you?" Xena yelled.

"No one! The best way to get respect as a warlord and be the best warlord is to kill the best." The man said.

"Ugh! This is getting old. You're not the best, you're not even close. You call that an attack? You can't and you won't beat me. Do you understand that?" Xena took the pinch off, the man tried to run and Xena pulled her sword on him. "Not so fast! Solan, get on Brownie with Joxer."

"But-" Solan started.

"Now." Xena said. Solan did as he was told. "Head up the road a bit, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." Joxer road off.

"What kind of name is Brownie for a horse?" The man asked.

"Shut up! I am tired of all of you want to be warlords trying to make a name for yourselves by trying to kill me. Now as tempted as I am to kill you, I'm not going to do that. But..." She used her sword to make an X on his chest. The man screamed. "Tell anyone else that if they try, they won't be so lucky." Xena got on Argo and met up with Joxer and Solan.

"Did you kill him?" Solan asked.

"No." Xena replied.

"Can you teach me that pinch thing?" Solan asked.

"No." Xena replied. "Now let's go."

It took about a week to get to Amphipolis but they finally arrived. Xena walked into her mother's with Solan and Joxer following her.

"Mother?" Xena called but was amazed to see the first face she saw. "Gabrielle!" Xena exclaimed.

"The plan worked. Unfortunately, we lost a few Amazons on the way but Ephiny's ok and we were able to save the Amazons that were captured." Gabrielle said then Xena, Solan and Joxer hugged her. They were overwhelmed with relief to see her there safe and sound.

* * *

_What do you all think about the way the story has unfolded so far?_


	12. Their Child

Their Child

They spent a couple weeks at Xena's mother's tavern and was planning to leave in another couple weeks. Xena, Solan and Cyrene were preparing dinner in the kitchen.

"I was thinking we would stop at the centaur village on the way back to Cori so that you could see your friends again. Would you like that?" Xena asked Solan.

"Yes." Solan replied.

"Mother, you should come with us. You could see the world a bit, you could be there when the baby is born and you could meet Hercules." Xena said.

"Tempting... I don't know. I'll think about it." Cyrene said.

"Oh please, grandmother, come with us." Solan said.

"How could you say no to that face?" Xena asked her mother.

"We'll see." Cyrene said then cut her finger with the knife while cutting an onion.

"Mother!" Xena exclaimed. "Solan, could you get my healing kit upstairs in my room?" Solan ran upstairs. Xena helped her mother rinse her finger in the sink. "You must be more careful."

"It'll be alright." Cyrene said. "What's going on with you and Hercules?"

"It's complicated." Xena said.

"What's so complicated about it? You love him, right?"

"Yes but-"Xena started before Cyrene cut her off.

"Does he love you?"

"Yes but-" Xena started again.

"Then what's the problem?"

"We're just figuring things out. We don't want to ruin a perfectly good friendship and there are two children involved now. Besides, you know I can't stay in one place for too long. We're trying to see how it would work."

"That's an excuse. Aren't you tired of moving around all the time by now? I'm pretty sure you haven't had too many good men in your life so a word of advice my child, when you get a good one who's perfect for you, you hold on to him! Nothing complicated about that."

"Well we're more than friends, not quite a couple. Solan, Gabrielle and Joxer don't know that though so don't mention it. I don't want them to get their hopes up yet." Xena said. Then Solan came back with the kit and Xena bandaged Cyrene's finger. There was a knock on the door so Xena went to answer it. "Speaking of... Hercules what are you doing here?" She never expected it to be Hercules.

"We have a problem." Hercules said with a look of concern. Xena could tell it was serious, obviously it was so serious he didn't send word or wait for her to get back to Cori. She went outside and they sat on the chairs that were on the porch.

"What is it?"Xena asked.

"... The gods want to kill our baby." Hercules said.

"...Why?" Xena instantly got angry.

"Something about a prophecy. They say our baby will bring about the twilight of the gods." Hercules said. Xena was in shock.

"Our child?" Xena asked, not really looking for an answer but was just surprised.

"You seem like you've heard of this prophecy before."

"I have. When I was in India I met this man named Eli. He was a healer but he was also a messenger for THE God as he put it. He said there was a time when the gods didn't exist and they were only given powers to defeat the Titans but they were so power struck that they wouldn't give the powers back, proclaimed themselves as gods and forced the world to worship them. He said it was so long ago that no one remembers the time when they only worshiped one God. You wouldn't know because you weren't born yet. Anyway, he said that one day God would send a special child to grow up and bring about the twilight. I don't know if he knew that it was our baby when he was telling me that or if he even knew that I was pregnant because I hadn't told anyone yet." Xena explained.

"So the gods have a right to be afraid... but to kill an innocent child... Does this mean our child will bring the end of me too?" Hercules wondered aloud.

"I don't know, probably not. You're mortal, you're probably immune to it. Besides, our baby will be a quarter god, whatever that means is yet to be foreseen."

"I guess we'll find out but in the meantime Zeus' army is looking for you. They're willing to kill you to stop this baby from being born."

"He's going to kill his own grandchild? Can we ever get a break? What are we going to do?"

"I have no idea. How can we stop them, defeat them? They're immortal."

"I wish I could talk to that Eli guy again..." Xena said before Cyrene came outside.

"Hello." Cyrene said.

"Mother, this is Hercules. Hercules, this is my mother Cyrene." Xena introduced them and Hercules stood up to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Hercules said.

"Call me Cyrene or mom works too." Cyrene said. Xena shook her head. "Why are you two sitting out here?"

"We just needed to talk about some things. We'll be in in a little while." Xena said and Cyrene went back inside. "I can't tell her this. She's been so happy about being a grandmother again, this would worry her." They sat in silence for a minute as the two who can usually find the answers to solve a problem so easily were completely clueless as to how they could fix this situation. "I have no idea what to do." The next thing they knew, twelve men from Zeus' army were in front of them. "Gabrielle!" Xena yelled, hoping Gabrielle would hear her from upstairs. Almost eight months through her pregnancy, she could hardly fight like she could before so they were going to need Gabrielle's help. Hercules began to take on the army. Xena took a couple down with her chakrum. Gabrielle came outside after a few minutes and joined in with Hercules. Xena took a few more out with her chakrum. Gabrielle took care of a couple and Hercules handled the rest.

"Who were they?" Gabrielle asked.

"Zeus' army." Hercules said.

"The gods want to kill our baby." Xena said.

"Why?" Gabrielle asked.

"This is the child Eli was talking about." Xena said.

"So they know and now they want to kill the baby before the baby brings them to their end. How are we going to stop them?" Gabrielle asked.

"We don't know." Xena asked.

"No need to worry." They heard a man's voice whom they could not yet see. Suddenly, Marcus and M'lila appeared in front of them in all white and a halo around them.

"Marcus? M'lila?" Xena questioned if it was really them.

"Yes, Xena. It's us." M'lila assured. She could not speak English in life but apparently she had acquired the skill in death.

"Who are they?" Hercules asked Gabrielle who was standing next to him.

"Marcus is Xena's former lover. He died years ago. I never met M'lila but Xena told me M'lila was the ontownhouse taught her the pinch. She also saved her from Caesar when he was going to crucify her but then Caesar killed M'lila... That was the defying moment, when Xena became the 'Destroyer of Nations.'" Gabrielle explained.

"What's going on?" Xena asked.

"After you saved me from rotting for the rest of eternity I was made your guardian angel, one of them anyway. This way I get to redeem myself from all the bad things I did in my lifetime since I was not able to do when I was alive." Marcus said.

"I asked to be your guardian." M'lila said.

"Why?" Xena asked.

"Because I've always believed in you. That's why I saved you from Caesar. I knew that was not meant to be your fate and that being a hero was your destiny. You just needed to find that out on your own. It took you long enough though." M'lila said.

"We're not just your guardian angels, we're also Solan and your baby's guardians as well and there are others. Normally you wouldn't see us, obviously but this is a special situation. The gods can try all they want to hurt you both but they won't succeed. We will be protecting you." Marcus said.

"Where were your guardian angels when you both died... saving me?" Xena asked sadly.

"They were there. It was just our time to go. Everyone has a time and a place here but it's not your time yet. Your family still has much good to accomplish here." M'lila said.

"So when is our time?" Xena asked.

"That we can't tell you but it's no time in the near future." M'lila said.

"So where were you when we were getting attacked a few minutes ago?" Gabrielle asked.

"Everyone is alive, aren't they? No one is hurt. We got Hercules here in time, didn't we? Obviously, we were doing our jobs." M'lila said. She was an angel with sass.

"So don't worry, continue as you would normally. When it seems the impossible has happened in a situation where it seems you or your child shouldn't have survived, know that it was us. We're telling you this because of the purpose your child has but this doesn't mean you're invincible. You're not!" Marcus said knowing Xena can easily let having the upper hand go to her head.

"What do I tell my child about this purpose, this destiny of theirs?" Xena asked.

"Don't tell them anything? They will figure it out in their own time." M'lila said.

"... Does this purpose they have mean that Hercules will die too?" Xena asked.

"Hercules is immune to the twilight, one, because he's mortal and two, because he does so much good in the world. He'll keep his powers too. There's a reason why your child is the chosen one. You two are heroes and you're both one of a kind. You're both special in your own rights. You possess the abilities and skills that you have for a reason. Neither of you have even reached your full potential yet. Both of you are great role models and teachers for this child. I'm just scratching the surface when it comes to the reasons why. We can't tell you much else, the rest you all have to find out in time but remember all of your guardians are surrounding you at all times." M'lila said before they started to go.

"Wait." Xena said, stopping them. "Your God must really believe in me."

"He created you. You were put here to be exactly what you have become, however, you did get side tracked for a while and in result have accumulated some pretty bad karma but you've made up for that. The person you used to be has only made you even better now." M'lila said then looked Xena in the eyes. "You are a good person, Xena." M'lila knew Xena still had a hard time believing that was true no matter how much good she had done over the years. She had to assure her that it was true.

"Remember, we're always there when you need us. You just can't see us." Marcus said then they both disappeared in a white glow. Solan, Joxer and Cyrene came outside.

"Is everything alright?" Cyrene asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Xena replied with her hand on her belly.

* * *

_Thanks for the reviews. I really appreciate them. This twilight thing is going to play out differently from the show. __What did you all think about this chapter?_


	13. Pure Innocence

_Thanks so much for the reviewsfeedback. Hope y'all continue to enjoy and stick with me._

* * *

Pure Innocence

A couple of months later in Cori, Xena, Gabrielle and Cyrene were out in front of Hercules' house. Solan was playing with some of the kids in the neighborhood.

"Mother, look!" Solan did a backflip. He had been trying to do it for a while now and he finally mastered it. He was so proud of himself and couldn't wait to show Xena.

"That was so good Solan, you did it! That's my boy!" Xena exclaimed.

"Now can you teach me the pinch?" Solan asked.

"No." Xena said.

"Aww man." Solan said then ran off with his friends.

"Perhaps he's seen too much violence too soon." Cyrene said.

"He's hardly seen anything, we've been protecting him from it but he saw the pinch one time and has been obsessed with it every since." Xena explained.

"Why do you think that is?" Cyrene asked.

"That's easy. He's Xena's son and your grandson but the pinch is interesting. If you see it you'll probably want to learn it." Gabrielle said.

"But you don't want to learn it and I'm sure you've seen it many times." Cyrene said

"I do want to learn it but Xena won't teach it to me." Gabrielle said.

"Would you two keep an eye on Solan?" Xena asked, changing the subject and going inside. She went to Hercules' room.

"Hey beautiful. How do you feel?" Hercules asked.

"Good but ready to have this baby." Xena said.

"Any time now." Hercules said.

"Yeah." Xena smiled and they kissed.

"You haven't been attacked again since the first time. Do you think they know they can't hurt you or the baby?"

"I don't know."

"...We've been having this secret relationship for months now. The only one who knows about whatever we're calling this is your mother. I think it's time we made a decision, are we going to be together or not? I want to be with you, Xena."

"I want to be with you too. I love you."

"I love you." They kissed again, longer, passionately.

"Hercules!" They heard Cyrene call urgently from outside. They quickly went to see what was going on. The gods; Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes, Artemis, Athena and Demeter were there with Solan as a hostage.

"I think you spoke too soon." Xena said.

"We hate to do this Xena but I guess you have to choose one child over the other. If you come with us now we will give Solan back, let you live and just take the baby after it's born. Which one will it be?" Athena said.

"For someone who is supposed to represent wisdom, she just said the stupidest thing." Xena thought. As if she would choose one child over the other, they both meant the world to her. She quickly thought of how she would get Solan away from them but Hera appeared next to Solan and the next thing they knew Solan and Hera were standing on Xena's side. This was a surprise to everyone. Solan immediately hugged Xena, a bit shaken up.

"What are you doing?" Zeus asked angrily.

"I won't be responsible for taking the life of another child." Hera said.

"Don't you understand? This child is the beginning of our end." Zeus said.

"Then so be it." Hera said and disappeared.

"This must be one of those seemingly impossible things Marcus was talking about." Xena said. "So you've all lost your hostage, what's the game plan now?" Xena mocked the gods and laughed a little just to irritate them more.

"Kill her!" Zeus commanded.

"Xena! Do you have a death wish? Don't make them angrier." Cyrene said.

"Wait a minute." Ares appeared next to Xena.

"Ares, kill her!" Zeus commanded.

"Sorry, _dad_. I just can't do that." Ares said and disappeared with Xena.

"Where are we?" Xena asked.

"Another world." Ares said.

"Why?"

"I'm protecting you."

"But you left my family. You know they will use them to get to me."

"Relax, just stay here until you have the little rugrat then we'll figure something out."

"No! I want Hercules and the rest of my family around when I have this baby."

"Ugh, you've gotten so sentimental." Ares said in an annoyed tone.

"Ares, I had my son in the middle of a war where his father got killed, I had no family around and I didn't see him again until he was nine years old. I don't want any of that for this baby. I know you don't care and on top of that, this baby is going to bring you to your end, I get it but come on. This is your niece or nephew... and please, don't say that it should be your daughter or son." Xena said knowing Ares well enough to know that that most likely would be the next thing to come out of his mouth.

"...Fine but we should figure out how to do it safely first."

"Ahhhhhh!" Xena screamed in pain, having her first contraction. "Think of something quick." Aphrodite appeared with Hercules, Solan, Cyrene, Gabrielle and Joxer.

"Oh... well... problem solved." Ares said. Xena had another contraction.

"Oh my, she's in labor." Cyrene said as she and Hercules rushed to her side. "We need boiled water and a pair of scissors."

"I guess we'll just be hanging out here for a while then." Ares said and went to get everything they needed then came back. "How did you know we were here?" Ares asked Aphrodite.

"Herc asked for my help and I tracked you down." Aphrodite said.

"Why are you two helping?" Gabrielle asked.

"He just can't get over her even if she is having a baby with our brother. I don't know what Xena did when they had their thing back in the day but she got him kind of whipped to some extent. Must have some kind of magic power or something, I'd learn whatever it is if I were you." Aphrodite said to Gabrielle.

"Hey! I am not whipped!" Ares exclaimed.

"Sure." Aphrodite didn't believe that. "I'm doing it because... well it's the right thing to do and Xena's my friend. I don't want to die either but I don't want to live at the expense of an innocent little child. We all know we're not supposed to be gods. I'm just the first to admit it."

Hours passed and it was time for Xena to push. Hercules held her hand while Cyrene took the part of a midwife. Finally, they heard cries of the innocent.

"It's a girl!" Cyrene exclaimed, cut the umbilical cord and cleaned her up. Then handed her to Xena. "Meet your mommy."

"She's beautiful. She looks just like you." Hercules said, taking in his daughter's raven colored hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Solan, come say hello to your little sister." Xea said and Soan walked over.

"Hi little sister. What's her name?" Solan asked.

"Evania." Hercules said.

"In Greek, it means, 'Goodness. Peaceful,' everything we want her to be, everything I'm sure she's meant to be."


	14. Our Family

Our Family

Baby Evania was now an hour old and everyone was still in this other world. They were trying to think of what they should do when they got back home. Cyrene was finally filled in on why the gods wanted the baby to die.

"There's nothing we can do. I say we just go back and let the guardians protect us like they said they would. They said when a situation seems impossible to get out of the impossible will happen. We can't stay here forever." Xena said.

"Are you sure you're strong enough to go now? We can wait awhile." Hercules asked, stroking her hair. Xena and Hercules' interactions sickened Ares. He couldn't hear them but just watching them was enough. He rolled his eyes in irritation.

"I'm fine, really. I just want to go home and get whatever is going to happen over with so that we can move on with our lives until this whole _twilight_thing takes place."

"If that's what you think we should do then let's go home." Hercules said trying to have as much faith as Xena.

"Ares, Aphrodite, thanks for your help. You didn't have to do this but you did. We really appreciate it." Xena said before Ares and Aphrodite took them all back to Hercules' house.

"Whoever would have thought that Ares, Aphrodite and especially Hera would help you at all with anything especially this situation." Gabrielle said.

"Something tells me they had a little push in the right direction."Hercules said then checked the windows and around the house to make sure the gods weren't waiting for them."

"How long do you think it will be before it hits the fan?" Joxer asked.

"Not long." Xena said. Joxer pulled Gabrielle aside.

"Gabby, this may be the worst time to say it but I just want to say it and get it off my chest, no strings attached." Joxer said.

"Ok." Gabrielle replied.

"I love you, I'm in love with you." Joxer said. It instantly became awkward.

"... Joxer... I love you too but... as a friend, as a brother even... but not as a lover." Gabrielle said. She could see the hurt in Joxer's eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I understand... I just wanted you to know how I felt about you... at least nothing is left unsaid." Joxer said then walked away.

Hercules went to the room Xena and Solan had been sleeping in to get a new blanket for Evania when Athena appeared.

"Hercules." Athena said.

"Athena, what?" Hercules responded to her presence.

"I understand that you're angry but you should understand why this has to happen." Athena said.

"She's an innocent child." Hercules said.

"A child that will bring about the twilight. This effects you too." Athena said.

"No it doesn't. I'm mortal and I don't rule on Olympus but even if it did effect me I wouldn't condone this." Hercules said.

"You and Xena are being selfish. You can't put the whole world in chaos just to save one child even if it's yours." Athena said.

"Selfish? You want to talk to me about selfishness? I know that there was a time that the gods did not exist. You all were given the powers to defeat the Titans and became so taken over by the power that you all proclaimed yourselves as gods and forced humanity to worship you." Hercules said.

"How did you find that out?" Athena asked.

"It doesn't matter. It's the truth. The only reason you all want to hurt my beautiful, innocent daughter is because you all are too selfish to step off the thrown you were never supposed to have." Hercules said.

"Don't forget you have Zeus' blood running through your veins." Athena said.

"Yeah and I use my power to help humanity and I don't force them to worship me." Hercules said.

"The child must die!" Athena exclaimed.

"You won't win." Hercules said. Athena disappeared then Hercules ran back into the room with everyone else with the blanket in hand. "I think we have trouble coming this way." Xena wrapped Evania in the new blanket. "Everyone stay close. Something is about to happen." Zeus, Dionysus and Athena appeared.

"Last chance, Xena. Hand over the baby." Athena said.

"No. Tell me, would you hand over your child to be slaughtered?" Xena asked knowing the answer was no.

"I'm sorry we have to do this." Athena said as she, Zeus and Dionysus prepared to use their powers to kill Evania. As soon as they raised their hands they went flying against the wall.

"That child!" Dionysus exclaimed.

"She's an hour old, how could she possibly do that?" Xena asked to make them think. They're afraid of an infant. Think about it. "She can't hurt you any time soon so why don't you leave her alone?"

"We can't take that chance." Zeus said then threw a lighting bolt but the lightning bolt was reflected back at him and he was killed. Everyone was in shock.

"She killed him." Dionysus said.

"She did not! Zeus killed himself." Xena said knowing the guardians reflected the power some kind of way but she wasn't going to explain that to them. "You can't win. Now if either of you try to attack my daughter it'll just backfire and you'll die instead just as it just happened with Zeus. So are you going to give up or do you want to die anyway?" Athena and Dionysus were angry that they couldn't do anything without the risk of dying so they just left. "Looks like we just won the war... for now anyway."

"How did Zeus...kill himself?" Cyrene asked, confused.

"Aside from what Evania is meant to do in the future, they can only kill themselves or each other unless someone finds the couple of special things in the world that can do it as well. We can't hurt them but the guardians are going to extreme measures to protect Evania so they reflected Zeus' own power on him when he used it. I don't think they will be bothering us for a while." Xena said then there was a knock on the door. Hercules answered, it was Iolaus.

"Is everything alright?" Iolaus asked as he entered.

"Everything is fine." Hercules replied.

"Oh, Xena you had the baby. She's adorable." Iolaus said.

"Her name is Evania." Xena said.

"Congratulations." Iolaus said.

"Thanks." Hercules said as he walked over to Xena. "Now we can really take it all in now that the gods are going to back off for a while but they're probably already plotting a new plan. We all know they won't win.. I spent a lot of time worrying that something would go wrong, that Hera or one of the others would take another family away from me. I'm glad I don't have to continue to look over my shoulders. Xena and I have lost a lot in our lives but we've gained a lot recently. Good things come when we come together."

"I agree." Xena smiled and they kissed.

"Whoa. What was that?" Gabrielle asked, surprised.

"Hercules and I are together, officially." Xena said.

"Well you've been sneaking around for months." Joxer said. Xena and Hercules were shocked. "I caught you two kissing a few times but I figured you'd tell us when you were ready so I kept your secret.

"Solan, are you ok with all this?" Xena asked.

"Sure!" Solan said happily.

"Evania, you're a lucky baby. You have all these people who love you and are here to welcome you into the world." Xena said, happy that she was able to bring Evania into the world in better way than she was able to do for Solan.

Xena took Solan aside so that they could have a moment alone.

"I love you. Nothing can ever change that. I know everything seems to be changing fast but if it ever seems like it's becoming too much you can talk to me. You can always tell me anything." Xena reminded him.

"I know mother. I love you too... I'm really ok with all this, honest!" Solan said and Xena kissed him on the forehead.

That night, Xena walked into Hercules' room. This was the first night she was sleeping there since it was now out in the open that she and Hercules were a couple. Plus, it was where Evania's bassinet was located and she was sleeping like a little angel.

"She's sleeping like an angel." Hercules said.

"She is an angel and so is Solan, Gabrielle and you. You're all my angels... aside from the ones that apparently protect us all the time." Xena said.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so happy." Hercules said.

"I've never been this happy since y


	15. Love

_Season 5_

Love

Xena and Solan were walking back to Hercules' house. She had a new outfit now that her body was back in tip top shape, a cross between the brown one and the one she wore when she first met Hercules. It was black with gold trim and her raven colored hair was now half way down her back like it was long ago.

"I'll race ya!" Solan said.

"I'll give you a head start." Xena said. Solan got ahead. "Ready? Go!" They ran but Xena let Solan win.

"No fair, you let me win. One day I'm going to be faster than you." Solan said.

"I'm looking for to it but you've already gotten a lot faster." Xena said before Solan went inside. Then Ares appeared. "Ares, I thought you and Aphrodite were in hiding from the other gods because you saved us."

"They've backed off for a while." Ares said.

"So what are you doing here?" Xena asked.

"Do you live here now?" Ares asked sounding disappointed, irritated and jealous. Xena hadn't actually thought about the fact that that's pretty much what they'd done, moved in. It was kind of like she got so comfortable she forgot to leave.

"What does it matter to you?" Xena asked.

"We would be amazing together. You could've ruled as my queen." Ares said, annoying Xena.

"You're suddenly very persistent about this but it's not going to happen. Whatever we had was in the past. I'm not interested."

"You know, you say that and maybe, just maybe you actually love Hercules for whatever reason, I could never guess but I think you like this. I think you get a kick out of my love for you."

"Why would you think that?" Xena laughed.

"Because you know that I don't like when people ask for my help but you never do, however, you know that if you need me, I'll be there anyway."  
"I don't know what you're talking about." He was right, a little but Xena would never admit it. "Come on, you're the god of war, toughen up." Xena walked into the house.

"Oh yeah. I will. It's all about to end." Ares said.

Xena walked in and Gabrielle was holding Evania who's now three months old. Solan was next to her. Xena took Evania into her arms. Hercules was still out with Iolaus. Cyrene had gone back home to Amphipolis a couple months ago.

"Hey Vani. Did you have fun with auntie Gabrielle?" Xena asked.

"Actually, she's been crying every since you left. She just stopped five minutes ago. I don't think she likes me." Gabrielle said.

"Don't be ridiculous. She just missed me, that's all. It's the first time she's been away from me for more than five minutes." Xena said.

"Well, I'm going out for a while." Gabrielle left feeling a bit down and she hadn't felt that way since Aphrodite helped her with how she felt about Hope. She still had those wonderful memories that she was left with from the world Aphrodite sent her to but she was starting to feel like she wouldn't have another chance to be a mother. After the twenty minutes she just had with Evania, she was beginning to think that even if she did she wouldn't be any good at it.

"It's cool being a brother." Solan said to Xena.

"Yeah, it's pretty great being a sister too..." Xena suddenly felt like this was a good time to tell Solan something he deserved to know. "There's something I should tell you... You have an older brother." Xena said.

"What? You mean you had another baby before me?" Solan asked.

"No. Borias already had a son when we met. He's about five years older than you." Xena explained.

"What's his name?" Solan asked.

"I don't remember to be honest but I thought you should know that he existed." Xena said.

"Can I meet him?" Solan asked.

"I don't know where he is. I wouldn't even know where to start looking for him." Xena said and meant it but was pretty sure Borias' son wouldn't want to see her again anyway after the way she had treated him and after taking his father away from him and his mother.

"Oh." Solan replied sadly.

"Don't be sad. You may still meet him one day." Xena felt like she needed to find Borias' son for Solan though she really didn't know where to start or how it would work out but he was Solan's brother and they deserved to know each other.

A few minutes later Joxer showed up with Meg. They hadn't seen Joxer in three months. He was really hurt that Gabrielle didn't love him back. He needed some time away to move on, get over her and that he obviously did. Joxer and Meg were all over each other.

"What's going on?" Xena asked.

"Meg and I are getting married." Joxer said.

"Really?" Xena was surprised since he had been so crazy over Gabrielle for so long and she thought he moved on pretty fast but she was happy for him. She knew he and Meg had had something going on, on and off anyway every since they had met. They genuinely cared about each other and it obviously became a deeper love. "Congratulations. When's the big day?"

"In a couple days. Xena, would you be my maid of honor?" Meg asked.

"Sure." Xena replied, shocked that she was asked but flattered to say the least.

"I have to pick something up in town. Solan, do you want to come with me?" Joxer asked.

"Yes." Solan replied. He loved Joxer so much, he really missed him.

"We'll be right back." Joxer said before they left.

"Your kids are beautiful." Meg said.

"Thanks." Xena said.

"Evania, looks like us!" Meg exclaimed. Xena laughed. It's crazy how identical they were.

"Yeah she does, more and more every day but I can see Hercules in her as well." Xena said.

-v-

Gabrielle had ridden Brownie out to the lake and was sitting on a rock admiring the earth's beauty.

"Good place to think, isn't it?" Ares appeared.

"What do you want?" Gabrielle asked.

"I know what's on your mind. You think that you'll never have a chance at true love or motherhood again and now Xena has it all. You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous of Xena. Xena's my friend.. She deserves to be happy."

"I'm the god of war, I know jealously when I see it. Yeah, she deserves to be happy but does she deserve it at the expense of our own? Everything you've lost, you've lost because of Xena. You lost your husband because Xena's enemy, Callisto wanted to get back at her. You never would have gone through what you've been through with Hope if you weren't with Xena in the first place. After that beautiful baby grew inside of you, she was going to kill her so you had to put her in that basket and let her float away from you. Then when you found her again you had to kill her to protect Xena's son. What about your child?" Ares knew he was good at mind games and what better way to get back at Xena than to turn her best friend against her. There was more to his plan but the first part had to work first and he never knew with Xena. It usually didn't work but no way was he going to continue to let her think he would always be there. No way was he going to continue to let people think that the god of war was whipped.

"She was evil." Gabrielle replied simply, trying to remain numb to the thought.

"So Xena said but you didn't believe that, you believed you could save her but because of Xena you never had the chance to try." Ares said. Gabrielle was beginning to buy into what he was saying. She became angered. The feeling of calmness that she'd had for a while was no longer there.

-v-

It'd been a couple days and Gabrielle had been acting strange and wouldn't tell anyone why. Xena figured she just needed to work something out on her own so she just let it be for the time being.

It was an hour before Joxer and Meg's wedding. Meg was becoming more and more excited as Xena did her hair.

"I didn't expect you to be good at this." Meg said, watching Xena do her hair in the mirror.

"I'm just full of surprises." Xena said. Then Gabrielle came in with an attitude. "Gabrielle, please don't ruin Joxer and Meg's day with that funky attitude." Xena was fed up with the attitude now.

"Funky attitude? If I have an attitude it's because of you." Gabrielle said.

"What?" Xena was confused.

"...You ruined my life. Because of you I lost my husband and my daughter, probably my only chances of finding love or being a mother. Look at all the times I got hurt. You changed me!" Gabrielle yelled. Xena was flabbergasted.

"What? I'm sorry that all happened to you. I feel bad that it happened but you chose this life Gabrielle. I tried to protect you from it all. When we met I told you not to come with me. I said it's too dangerous, I travel alone but you insisted. I told you to never kill, run, talk your way out it, only fight as a last resort but never kill because it would always weigh on your consciousness and you'll never get over it. Your problem is, you don't listen but even still I feel responsible and it hurts me that you went through the things you went through because you were with me." Xena said.

"I thought you liked having me around." Gabrielle said.

"I love having you around. I love you. You're like a sister to me and I don't know what I'd do without you but I didn't choose this life for you, you did." Xena said.

-v-

Joxer and Meg tied the knot with their close friends there to celebrate with them. Afterward, Gabrielle went to Xena.

"I'm sorry Xena. You were right. I should have never let Ares get to me." Gabrielle said.

"Ares, I should've known." Xena said.

"I let him take me away from the way, the way of love and let him cloud my judgment. He really messed with me, almost convinced me to give him an heir."

"What?" Xena blurted, choking on her words. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"I don't know, he may have had some furies mess with my head as well on that note." Gabrielle said, thinking how ridiculous and unlike her the consideration of giving Ares an heir was. She was suddenly disgusted at the thought.

"Ok... well other than that, he only played on feelings you already had on some level... I wondered if you felt the way that you did, if you blamed me because of what happened with Hope and Perdicus and if you felt like it was your only chance but they weren't your only chances. You're still young. You'll find love again and the one for you is probably already under your nose if you'd just open your eyes."

"You think so?"

"I'm pretty sure of it." Xena said as Iolaus walked over to them.

"Gabrielle, can I talk to you?" Iolaus asked and Xena walked away. "I've always felt we had something special but we've never had a chance to act on it. We've been able to spend so much time together recently and... I don't know how to say this... I'll just say it... I love you." Gabrielle smiled.

"...I guess I'm not exactly good at noticing these things but... when we first met I felt like you were my soul mate, like we were made especially for each other... maybe we're here now to see if that's true." Gabrielle said before they hugged each other.

"Right under your nose." Xena said as she watched from a short distance then Hercules approached her.

"Hey beautiful." Hercules kissed Xena.

"Look who finally found their way to each other." Xena said. Hercules looked up and noticed Gabrielle and Iolaus together.

"I always thought they'd make a cute couple." Hercules said."Speaking of couples, let's talk about us... Marry me."

"M- Marry?" Xena stuttered.

"Yeah, like I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride like what Joxer and Meg just did. You know it's kind of weird he was in love with Gabrielle but married a woman that looks just like you... Anyway about us." Hercules said.

"You know that I love you but I don't know if I'm ready to get married... I mean I never meant to move in or anything." Xena said.

"Yeah but you're happy here, the kids are happy, I'm happy with you all here. You know it's kind of weird he was in love with Gabrielle but married a woman that looks just like you... Anyway about us." Hercules said.

"You know that I love you but I don't know if I'm ready to get married... I mean I never meant to move in or anything." Xena said.

"Yeah but you're happy here, the kids are happy, I'm happy with you all here. You, me, Solan, Evania, we're a family."

"... Come with us on the road... We can talk about it then." Xena said.

"You're ready to leave?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah... but I want you come with us." Xena said.

"I think you're afraid you're getting too comfortable." Hercules kissed her on the forehead then walked away.

* * *

_Next chapter Xena's back on the road again... _

_Stay tuned... Got some good stuff coming._

_Thanks for the reviews, really appreciate them. _

_Enjoy!_


	16. Home, Sweet Home

Home, Sweet Home

Xena, Gabrielle, Solan and Evania were back on the road with Argo and Brownie headed to the Amazon village. When they arrived, things seemed to be better than ever.

"It's wonderful to see you all." Ephiny said. "Is this Evania? She's gorgeous."

"Thanks." Xena said. "How's Xenan?"

"He's great. He's gotten so big and so have you Solan. You've grown so much." Ephiny said.

"I'll be taller than mother in a few years. Would it be ok if I looked around a bit?" Solan was obviously fascinated by the activities and beautiful women around him.

"Yeah." Ephiny said.

"Just don't stray too far." Xena said before Solan went to explore. Evania became fussy. "Looks like it's Vani's lunchtime. I'll be back in a little while." Xena walked away with Evania and Gabrielle and Ephiny had a seat.

"How have you been?" Gabrielle asked.

"I've been great. We all appreciated you fighting with us before." Ephiny said.

"I'm an Amazon, you all mean a lot to me. I needed to be by your sides." Gabrielle replied.

"How about you?"

"I've been well. I got a little side tracked for a bit. I started feeling like I'd never have another chance at true love or having a family of my own but I think I was just holding on to the past too much to see that it was possible. Not long after Xena and I met, I met Hercules and his best friend Iolaus and at the time I thought Iolaus was my soul mate, like he was perfect for me but I never thought we'd have a chance together. I've always been a bit of a romantic. Since we've been spending most of our time in Cori because of Evania being Hercules' daughter and Hercules and Xena finally deciding to get together, Iolaus and I have had a lot of time together. We would spend hours talking, apparently he still had feelings for me from when we first met and being around each other so much made them strong again so we got together. I'm happy and I'm in love again."

"That's wonderful so why are you here? Why aren't you with your love?" Ephiny asked.

"Because Xena needs to realize she wants to be with hers. She loves Hercules but I think really settling down, not traveling all the time and actually having consistency and security scares her just a little bit. Knowing Xena, she's probably aware that she feels that way but won't admit it aloud. Xena's a fighter, that's just who she is but the traveling isn't her anymore. I give it no more than three days before she decides she wants to go back to Cori and be with Hercules, at least that's what I told Iolaus so if I'm wrong he'd be a bit disappointed." Gabrielle laughed. "But I doubt I'm wrong. I know Xena. I know I ddn't really have to come but I didn't really plan on being a long trip. Besides, Xena and I have been traveling together for five years now."

"You're probably right. I've never seen her this happy."

"Yeah, everyone has noticed. Speaking of noticing things, I suck at at noticing when someone is in love with me. Did you know that Joxer was in love with me?" Gabrielle asked.

"Oh, you mean that goofy guy you travel with?" Ephiny asked.

"Yes." Gabrielle said.

"Oh yeah, I knew that. Everyone knew that. It was obvious." Ephiny said.

"Oh... I didn't see how Iolaus felt about me either. I'm a writer, I'm supposed to be good at observing people, I'm missing the boat somewhere." Gabrielle said.

Meanwhile, Solan was observing the Amazon women practice their fighting. Solan didn't want to be a warrior, he gave that up a long time ago. It's not even in his nature but he wanted to know how to fight and fight well anyway. He didn't want to know how to kill, just fight. He never really gets to see Xena fight because she makes sure to get him out of the way any time one comes up and he gets it, it's dangerous. It just doesn't stop him from wanting to know how to do it. He watched until it was time to go to sleep. They all stayed the night at the Amazon village and headed to see Gabrielle's family in the morning. They stopped when it got dark to get some rest. Solan and Evania fell asleep first, leaving Xena and Gabrielle to talk.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Xena asked.

"Yeah... You've never really been the type to stop and look at the stars or smell the roses."

"I guess it won't kill me." Xena laughed.

"So how long are you going to pretend like you don't miss being in Cori with Hercules?" Gabrielle asked.

"What?" Xena was caught off guard.

"Come on, admit it. Admit it, admit it, admit it, admit it, admit it!" Gabrielle pushed like a child begging for candy.

"Ok, ok! I do, I miss him." Xena admitted.

"Thank you. So why are you here? Is it because you're just a little afraid of settling down?" Gabrielle asked.

"...Maybe just a little." Xena said.

"It's ok, Xena. Embrace the change. This isn't you anymore. You don't need this to fulfill yourself. I always felt like you traveled because you were looking for something and when I say something I don't mean trouble. I think you've found what you were looking for, even though I don't think you knew what you were searching for. You can save people and fight for the greater good anywhere." Gabrielle said.

"You couldn't tell me this before we left?" Xena asked.

"You had to miss him first." Gabrielle replied with a smile.

"Fine but we have a couple things we have to do first. We'll go see your family then I want to try to find Borias' oldest son, for Solan. Hopefully we find him and hopefully he doesn't remember me. Then we can go home." Xena said.

After seeing Gabrielle's family and spending a couple days with them, though they're still not really fans of Xena so she pretty much stayed out of their way the entire time, the four headed back on the road. Evania was strapped to Xena's back and as she road Argo and Solan road on the back of Gabrielle's horse while they traveled.

Xena didn't tell Solan she was looking for his brother just in case they didn't find him. No need to get his hopes up. Xena's first idea was to go back to the village where Borias used to live. She asked around about the son of Borias while Gabrielle watched Solan and Evania until finally she ran into a vaguely familiar woman.

"I'm looking for the son of Borias, you wouldn't by any chance know where I can find him?"

"You." The woman replied, utterly disgusted. Xena had a feeling that talking to this woman wasn't going to go over too well before she even opened her mouth. "Xena, Destroyer of Nations. You bitch, you whore."

Xena shot her eyes at the woman, if looks could kill... The woman obviously had some old vendetta toward Xena and considering all the things she had done in the past she probably had a good reason for it. She let her slide this one time.

"What do you want with my son?" The woman asked.

"_Your son? Well that explains the bitterness toward me, considering I took your man and all._" Xena thought to herself. There really wasn't much Xena could say to make this conversation go smoothly.

"I just thought he might want to know his brother." Xena said.

"Brother? By the gods, he gave you a child." The woman said, disgustedly. Xena laughed nonchalantly. "Why would my son want anything to do with someone who came from you?"

That was her last little insult.

"You know, if you knew how to keep your man happy we wouldn't be having this conversation." Xena retorted. She couldn't resist. This woman was really irritating. She understood but come on.

"I never!" The woman exclaimed, insulted to say the least.

"Look, I am honestly sorry about what I did. I was a different person back then, young, had a lot to learn. If I could do it over, I would change a lot of my decisions-"

"I don't care about your regrets or your apologies."

"Fine but these were my faults, not my son's. He should at least be able to meet his brother. He never got to meet his father, I don't want him to miss out on knowing his brother too."

"Who's fault is that Xena? You killed Borias!"

"_Why does everyone think I killed Borias?"_ Xena asked herself. "I did not kill Borias, I was giving birth when Borias was killed."

The woman was silent for a minute, contemplating what she should do.

"I highly doubt Belach would want to know your son."

"Belach, is that his name?"

"You don't even remember... Yeah that's his name. I'm Natasha... I'll let him make his own decision about the situation but I never want to see your face again."

"Fine." Xena replied, nonchalantly before Natasha told her where she could find Belach.

After traveling a ways, they came across some men being attacked in a village. Xena got off Argo, took Evania off her back and handed her to Gabrielle. Evania instantly started crying.

"_She does not like me_." Gabrielle thought.

"It's not you." Xena said, knowing what Gabrielle was thinking. Gabrielle road ahead a bit while Xena helped the people being attacked. In the back of Xena's head she was thinking she hadn't had a good fight in a while. She got a rush of adrenaline. She flipped into the center of the action and pulled out her sword. The men being attacked obviously weren't experienced fighters. They definitely needed her help. Xena was going toe to toe with the attackers, taking them out one by one. One was on the ground, her sword was pointed at the man's chest, actually he was a boy. She stopped after looking into his eyes. Not only was he a young boy but... he was the spitting image of Borias. Xena was stunned.

"Borias." Xena said.

The last man standing was about to attack her from the back. She instinctively knew he was coming toward her. When he was close enough, without even turning around, Xena stabbed him in the stomach. Xena helped the boy up off the ground which confused him.

"Why didn't you kill me?" He asked.

"...You're Belach, right?"

"Who wants to know?"

"I assume that means yes. I knew your father."

"Don't speak of my father. I'd forget him if I didn't want to remember not to be just like him. He was cruel hearted and evil."

"Oh and you're so much better than that? What do you call what you were just doing to those people?"

"They were standing in the way of a good cause."

"What cause?"

"The end of the centaurs."

"The centaurs are noble creatures. Borias died defending them. He defended them because it was the right thing to do. He changed at the end of his life. He regretted the things he had done and he regretted leaving you. He wouldn't want you to be a warrior."

"I don't care what he would have wanted. What about what I wanted? I wanted him to choose me over that whore but he didn't. All he left me was some stupid necklace. I keep it to remember that I don't want to be like him."

"Like I said, he was a better man when he died. He didn't like who he had become."

"You have yet to tell me who you are. You seem to know a lot about my father."

"... I guess you would call me the whore your father ran off with."

"Xena. What do you want?" Belach asked bitterly.

"First, I want you to know that Borias was a good man. Don't shame his name by slaying centaurs. If you really want to be a better person, don't hurt ones who want nothing but peace. Centaurs only attack when they're attacked. They're never the attackers."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because it's the truth... I knew Borias at the end, he fought against me at the end and he was right to do so. I'm not the same person I was back then. You should believe that because I could've killed you but I didn't and I just saved the good guys. All that being said, I want you to know that your father loved you and I think he would have found you again had he been given the chance."

"What about my mother? Did he love her too?" Belach was beginning to believe Xena, sensing her sincerity and witnessing the obvious. She didn't have to save him.

"I don't know. Maybe at one point..." If Xena could do it all over she wouldn't interfere with Borias and his family but in all honesty, if he was that willing to leave at the time, he would have eventually left anyway. Maybe he would have handled it better. "I hope you listen to me. You have a lot of life ahead of you. You're just getting started and a bad way to start it would be with blood on your hands, blood on your hands that you will most likely regret later."

Belach's expression had softened by now from the time the conversation started. He looked at the couple of dead men that Xena was too late to save and knew she was right though he was not yet ready to admit it. He hated his father and Xena for so long but he was finding it hard to do that at the moment. He was still angry but right now a lot of bottled up sadness was surfacing. He tried to let his emotions remain unreadable but Xena sensed she had broken through to him to some extent.

"Secondly, I was actually looking for you." Xena said.

"Why?" Belach asked, suspiciously.

"I hoped you might want to know your brother or at least give him the satisfaction of meeting you."

"Brother?"

"Yeah, he was born the night your father died. His name is Solan."

"Brother... I don't know."

"You both missed out on having your father, you should at least have each other."

"...Not only did he leave us for you but he started a new family... Fine I'll meet this brother of mine. I can't promise anything beyond that."

They caught up with Gabrielle, Solan and Evania. Solan was holding Evania. That was probably the only way she would stop crying. It made no sense why she reacted the way she did to Gabrielle.

"Solan, there's someone I want you to meet." Xena said as she took Evania from him. "Remember I told you you had a brother?"

"Yes."

"I know it seemed like we were riding around pointlessly the past few days but I've been trying to find your brother. I found him. Meet your brother, Belach."

Solan's eyes widened then went over to Belach.

"You're my brother?" Solan asked, rhetorically.

"He's the spitting image of your father." Xena said.

"Really? I always pictured him to look differently." Solan and Gabrielle said in unison.

"I'm glad we get to meet." Solan said to Belach. Belach just nodded.

"How old are you?"Belach asked.

"Twelve. You?"

"Seventeen...I've never had a little brother before. I guess it wouldn't be so bad."

"Not so bad? I'm awesome. You couldn't do better." Belach laughed at Solan's comment.

"I like you, kid. You got spunk."

The brothers got to spend a little time together before everyone had to go their separate ways. Belach went back home to his mother so that he could reevaluate his life and the direction it was going in. He was sure his mother wouldn't be proud of the life he had been leading since he'd left home. He promised to come to visit Solan in Cori. They really connected with each other. He still wasn't really all that crazy about Xena but he didn't hate her as much as he did when he first met her again.

Finally, Xena, Solan, Gabrielle and Evania headed back to Cori. Home, sweet home. Gabrielle went to Iolaus' house. She was excited to see him. Xena, Solan and Evania found Hercules out shopping for food. He was surprised to see them.

"Back so soon?" Hercules asked.

"I told you we wouldn't be gone long." Xena said.

"But you meant longer than this." Hercules said.

"Yeah I did but we missed you. I realized I'd rather be here and it's best for all of us. This is home." Xena said.

"I see some of my friends. I'm going to go play with them." Solan said.

"Don't-" Xena started.

"I know, I know, don't stray too far." Solan finished Xena's sentence before running off.

"So this is home, huh?" Hercules asked.

"Yes and you had a question for me before we left, I think I have a better answer for you this time." Xena said and Hercules laughed.

"Ok. Xena, will you marry me?" Hercules anxiously waited for the answer.

"...Yes! I'll marry you, Hercules." They kissed.

That night, everyone gathered around a campfire including Joxer and Lila but Xena and Hercules wanted to talk to Solan before they joined in.

"Solan, we wanted to talk to you because... your mom and I are getting married. We just wanted to make sure you were ok with that." Hercules said. Solan smiled.

"Of course I'm ok with it. I prayed for it. Not that we weren't already but now we'll really be a family!" Solan hugged them. Xena and Hercules looked at each other. They thought Solan would be ok with it but they didn't know he'd be this ecstatic about it.

"I know I could never take the place of Borias or Kaleipus but I'd really like to adopt you as my son. Would you be ok with that?" Hercules asked. Solan smiled.

"... It's all I ever wanted." Solan hugged them again. "I love you... mom and dad." They finally joined everyone around the campfire.

"Hercules and I have an announcement." Xena said.

"We're getting married!" Hercules said. Everyone was happy for them. They felt like they were perfect for each other and it took them long enough.


	17. Love, Purity, Power

Love, Purity, Power

"Xena, you have to go back to Chin."

"Lao Ma?" Xena questioned.

"Yes, Xena. Chin needs your help and you're the only one who can do it." Lao Ma said. Then Xena had a vision of Chin being in serious trouble, at war, in panic.

Xena woke up to the sound of Evania's cries and being in Hercules' strong arms. She got up and took Evania from her bassinet to stop her from crying.

Later Xena talked to Gabrielle and Hercules.

"I have to go to Chin." Xena said.

"You have to go to Chin because you had a dream?" Hercules asked.

"It wasn't a dream, it was a vision, a message from Lao Ma." Xena said.

"Xena feels like she owes Lao Ma her life." Gabrielle informed.

"I do. She saved my life, it's because of her that I don't still walk with a cane after what Caesar did to me. She believed in my good side like you both did but this isn't about Lao Ma really. This is about Lao Ma's book. If that book gets into the wrong hands it could be a disaster. There's a lot of power in that book and we all know what power does in the hands of the wrong people." Xena explained.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Hercules asked.

"I need Gabrielle to come but I can't take the kids because it's way too dangerous so I need you to stay with them. You'll come, right Gabrielle?" Xena asked.

"Of course." Gabrielle said.

"This is what we do, right? Protect the greater good?" Xena reminded Hercules.

"Right." Hercules smiled.

Later Xena explained to Solan why she had to go. He wasn't particularly happy about it but he tried to be understanding.

"I don't want to go but it's just something I have to do. I'll be back in a few weeks, hopefully sooner. I promise, after this I won't leave like this again. I'll never leave you, any of you again." Xena said. This was the longest she and Solan would be apart since he came to be with her after Kaleipus died. She'd never been away from Evania for more than a half hour.

The next day, Xena said her goodbyes. She kissed Hercules, hugged Solan then took Evania from Hercules.

"I'll be back sooner than you think. I love you all so much." Xena kissed Evania on the forehead, took a deep breath then gave her back to Hercules. "We're getting married as soon as I get back." Xena whispered in Hercules' ear then looked him in his eyes and smiled.

She and Gabrielle got on their horses and rode off.

"Are you alright?" Gabrielle asked.

"I'm fine." Xena replied. It wasn't really true but if she told the truth she might turn around and go home and she knew this was the right thing to do.

On the boat to Chin, Gabrielle was trying to get over her sea sickness by tapping the pressure point Xena showed her. She just could not get used to riding on the sea but at least she wasn't constantly puking.

Meanwhile, both Xena and Gabrielle were quiet for most of the ride. Gabrielle seemed to have something to say. She seemed like she wanted to say it but maybe it wasn't the time.

"What is it, Gabrielle?" Xena finally asked. Gabrielle just looked at Xena for a moment.

"You slept with Iolaus?"

"What?" Xena was caught off guard and confused.

"Didn't you?"

"Uh... Over five years ago, yeah. I thought you knew that."

"Xena!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"What? I didn't even know you then. What was I supposed to say, 'I shouldn't sleep with Iolaus because one day I'll have a best friend and they'll fall in love?' I didn't know, I mean, I'm not a seer or an oracle."

"Just answer this, why Iolaus?"

"I didn't change yet. I was plotting to kill Hercules and when it came to men, seduction was usually more effective than a threat and I was trying to turn him against Hercules."

"Xena."

"I'm sorry. What do you want me to do? Iolaus and Hercules have gotten over it."

"It's just weird... Question, how do you end up with men you either battled or tried to kill at one point or another?"

"I don't know. They like it rough?" Xena laughed.

"I guess you just have that effect on them." Gabrielle said. Xena shrugged her shoulders. "I think it's the blues eyes and the leather." The two laughed. "You know, I never thought you to be the marrying type."

"Really?" Xena pretended to be surprised. "Obviously, I'm not the type to dream of a knight and shining armor to come and save me. I can rescue myself. I've always been that way but before I gave up on love, I pictured myself married... still kicking ass, of course. At one point, I thought I'd marry Marcus one day. Once I had given up on love, I never thought about it again until Hercules asked me."

"You never thought about marrying Ares?"

"Only when my thirst for power was at it's peak. It was alluring because then I could rule as his queen. It had nothing to do with love, only power. There was always a strong lust thing. It never would have worked. I think if I kept on my lost path I would have gained all the power I could gain and then realized that it wasn't enough for me. Then I probably would have fell unhappy with it, wondering what would actually make me happy. That would've pissed Ares off, gaining everything and not enjoying it like he would. He loves my look, he loves my dark side but he could never accept all of me and he brings out the evil in me. It's different with Hercules, our love knows no conditions, he accepts me for who I am, past and present. He brings out the best in me, he makes me happy and I can leave the kids with him without worrying that he will corrupt them. I miss the three of them. I wonder what they're doing right now."

When Xena and Gabrielle arrived in Chin they headed toward Lao Ma's palace. The villages they passed on the way there were all deserted. Once they were near, warriors attacked the palace. The guards were alert and ready to fight back. Xena and Gabrielle jumped right in, helping the guardians of the palace. A soldier banged his sword against Xena's until she found a clear shot to stab him in the stomach. She continued on with countless others until the bunch was defeated. Afterward, Xena led Gabrielle to the room in which Lao Ma stashed her book.

Xena went directly to the shelf where the book was supposed live but it was not there. She was immediately concerned that the book was already in the wrong hands and that she was too late.

"Are you looking for my mother's book?" A woman asked as she walked out of the shadows.

"Your mother?" Xena questioned.

"Yes. I am Pao Ssu. You must be my mother's friend, Xena. You're the only one besides her who knew where the book was. You must be here to defeat the Green Dragon's army."

"The Green Dragon?" Xena echoed, surprised. She knew she killed him already.

"Yes, my brother Ming Tien has made contact with the living to finish his work, gaining our mother's power from beyond the grave. He has unfinished business and he is not going anywhere until he accomplishes his goal or someone stops him." Pao Ssu explained.

"See Xena, you didn't have to kill Mimg Tien. He got what he had coming." Gabrielle said.

"About that... Pao Ssu, could Gabrielle and I have a moment?"

"Sure." Pao Ssu left with the book.

"Gabrielle, I killed Ming Tien."

"Xena, how could you?" Gabrielle asked, angrily.

"It's what I felt I had to do at the time. It's what I came here for. You couldn't have stopped me but I wanted to protect you, your soul, the bit of innocence you had left, the belief that love could still defeat anything."

"That doesn't make it ok for you to lie to me and after all this time. It's been two years... I could have handled it... though I probably would have lost my belief in you."

"Forgive me."

"...You lied... you lied right to my face."

"You've lied to me, you've betrayed me. I still forgave you." Xena remained as calm as usual.

"I'm sorry for all that."

"I know and I'm sorry for this. Let's call it even and move on."

"Is it really that simple?"

"We've both hurt each other, we've both lied. We can start with a clean slate."

Gabrielle knew Xena was right but it still didn't help her frustration much. She decided she wanted to get away for a while.

Pao Ssu reentered the room. "Where's your friend?" She asked.

"Gabrielle will be back."

"I found this note that says, 'The hawk and the dove must become one with the wisdom.' What do you think that means?"

"I don't know, maybe it means that you must become one with the wisdom. We have the book and I can show you what I remember... To conquer others is to have power but to conquer yourself is to know The Way."

They studied, meditated, practiced for hours. The goal was to accomplish complete stillness and inner peace. Inner peace was always a hard task for Xena but she had been closer to it lately, as close as Xena could be anyway.

After hours of practice, they managed to be able to use the power, not to its full ability but they were well on the right track and they got it enough to be able to defeat Ming Tien's army.

The next day Xena and Lao Ma met again.

"I have some news. I can't fight with you." Pao Ssu informed.

"Why not?" Xena asked.

"I read the fine print in my mother's book. Using my power makes my brother stronger. I can't be apart of enhancing his power to use for evil. I figured something out about the note I found though. 'The hawk and the dove must be made one with the wisdom,' we know what the wisdom is but the hawk and dove refers to you, not me or my brother. You're meant to defeat them on your own... If Ming Tien and his army are fighting with purity of hate, you must fight with purity of love."

"I've never seen a war won with love."

"It is possible. Remember the teachings. Anything is possible and in order to transcend the limitations of this world, you need to stop willing, stop desiring, stop hating. Love is the key. Love IS The Way."

Gabrielle walked up to them. Xena hadn't seen her since the day before but she knew she'd show up. She just needed time to herself.

"The army will be here soon enough." Gabrielle said.

"Ok, I need you two to get the village people to safety." Xena said.

Gabrielle and Pao Ssu nodded and quickly moved to get the village people to safety. Soon enough Ming Tien's army arrived. There were thousands of men and horses. They attacked with bombs and Xena reflected the bombs back at them using the power but she wasn't controlling it. The power was controlling her and she was becoming weaker and weaker. It was quite ironic when you think about it. She finally got the ultimate power and she couldn't even control it.

The safety of the people crept into Xena's mind, not just the people of Chin but the people of the world. If she lost this battle and Ming Chin and his army got a hold of Lao Ma's book, the whole world would be a disaster. She could not let that happen. As compassion took over for the hate, Xena began to be able to control the power. Finally, she was able to defeat the army by turning them all to stone and Ming Tien disappeared. Now that's what you call, one against an army.

After the war, Xena met up with Gabrielle and Pao Ssu.

"You were right. I defeated the war with love. I didn't think it was possible before." Xena said.

"Eli said that you would learn to fight with love instead of hate soon. I guess he was right." Gabrielle said.

"Do you still feel the power?" Pao Ssu asked.

"Yes but not as strong. I think I just need to master it."

"Good." Pao Ssu handed Xena Lao Ma's book. "This is yours. My mother would want you to have it. She believed in you and I believe she passed on what she was able to pass on to you at the time for a reason. I'm sure you will make good use of it. I can't risk anyone related to me in blood, who is evil, using or getting stronger with this power. You have the power now."

* * *

_What do you all think about this chapter?_

_How do you feel about Xena keeping Lao Ma's power?_

_Thoughts?_


	18. Change

Change

Xena and Gabrielle just arrived in Cori. Solan and Evania were with Joxer and Meg. The house was empty when Xena arrived but she knew Hercules would be back soon. She wanted to surprise him. When he entered the room, all she was wearing was a white fur cover.

"You're back." Hercules said as he caressed her with his eyes.

"For good and we're getting married tomorrow." Xena kissed him then opened his vest and noticed a bandage on his stomach. "What happened?"

"Ares. We got into a big brawl. It was so bad Hera intervened."

"Was it about me?"

"Ares and I were enemies long before you came into the picture but if that was what he was so enraged about then that's too bad. He can't have you back." Hercules kissed her passionately, she continued to take off his vest then loosened his leather pants. He planted soft kisses all her body she laid back on the bed. It was obvious that missed each other with every move they made. Their bodies, minds and souls were in ecstasy as they made love to each other.

"Nice way to say hello." Hercules said.

The next day, before the wedding Xena held Evania as she spoke to Gabrielle, Meg and Cyrene who had just gotten into town. Gabrielle was the maid of honor of course.

"I'm so happy for you and I wanted to tell you that I'm moving to Cori." Cyrene said.

"But you'd never leave Amphipolis." Xena said.

"That was true before but now that you're finally settling down and I have two beautiful grandchildren I'd rather be here. It's getting pretty lonely in Amphipolis." Cyrene said.

"I'll love having you here, mother." Xena said.

"It's time!" Meg exclaimed.

"You two being identical is going to take some getting used to." Cyrene said as she took Evania into her arms. "We'll see you outside." Gabrielle, Meg, Cyrene and Evania met Solan, Joxer, Iolaus and Hercules was waiting with the priest. Aphrodite showed up last minute too.

Xena met Hercules and they were joined in holy matrimony until death do them part.

"You can't get away from me now." Hercules said.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Xena said. Hercules kissed the bride.

"Hi Aphrodite!" Solan exclaimed with the biggest smile on his face.

"Hey cutie pie!" Aphrodite replied. This only made Solan fall for her even more.

"How long do you think Solan's crush on Aphrodite is going to last?" Xena asked. Hercules laughed.

"He's had a crush on her for about a year now. He's twelve so I don't know, maybe soon, maybe later. It's cute. Look on the bright side, he could have a crush on someone like Discord and we don't want that."

Gabrielle went over to Aphrodite and Solan holding Evania.

"Aww, look at those eyes and that hair, she's such a cute chunky baby." Aphrodite said.

"It's a wonder she's not crying now with me holding her. Do you want to hold her?" Gabrielle asked.

"No, that's ok." Aphrodite looked nervous and skeptical. Gabrielle thought about why she reacted that way and remembered the prophecy that Evania would bring about the twilight.

"Oh. Aphrodite, she's just a baby. She can't hurt you." Gabrielle said. "Evania, don't you want auntie Aphrodite to hold you?"

"I'll pass." Aphrodite said. Gabrielle had Evania's little hands touch Aphrodite and Aphrodite screamed.

"You're still alive." Gabrielle said.

"Does this mean the prophecy isn't true?" Aphrodite asked.

"I'm sure it's true but she can't hurt you just by touching you and especially not now and who knows? You put your selfishness aside and helped save her life, maybe you're fate is different from the other gods." Gabrielle said and Aphrodite thought about it for a minute so she took Evania into her arms.

After about a month, Cyrene found a house nearby. Xena, Hercules, Solan and Cyrene were walking into town. Evania was strapped to Xena's chest.

"Grandmother, are you cooking tonight?" Solan asked.

"Actually, I'm cooking tonight. I may as well put my new powers to use." Xena said.

"Xena, no. The last time you tried to use your powers to cook you turned all the fish to stone." Hercules said.

"I've been practicing, I've gotten better."

"If you ruin dinner, you're buying tonight."

"Yeah mom, we don't want to starve." Solan said.

They then noticed some people being attacked by a group of men nearby. They tried to fight back but they were no match for the attackers. She unstrapped Evania from her chest and handed her to Cyrene. Hercules ran over and Xena did her famous flip then landed between two of the attackers and banged their heads together. They instantly fell to the ground. Another was approaching her from the side, she did a spin kick right to his face. Meanwhile, Hercules was throwing others and giving forceful punches that sent them about ten feet away. The people showed their gratitude but one of them, a man was yelling someone's name.

"Esaias! Esaias!" The man called then went over to Xena and Hercules. "Xena, Hercules, my son, he ran off when the men attacked. I can't find him."

"What does he look like?" Xena asked.

"He's six, brown hair, brown eyes." The man said. The three separated and looked for him. Xena found the boy in a corner in a shop.

"Are you Esaias?" Xena asked. The little boy nodded. "Come on, I'll take you to your daddy. It's alright." Xena took Esaias' hand and found Hercules and his father.

"Thank you." The man said as he hugged his son.

"Don't I know you?" Hercules asked the man.

"Yeah, I guess it's been a while. I'm Spiros. Xena saved my son after her army murdered everyone in my village."

"Right... Good to see you both are well."Xena said as flashbacks of the life changing time went through her mind. She would never forget all those people who were slayed because of her army. She may not have told them to do it but she still felt the guilt along with all the other blood spilled because of her. Spiros was kind of thrown off by Xena's persona. It definitely wasn't the 'kill you at any second warlord' he met a little over five years ago.

"Mother, that kick was so cool and when you banged their heads!" Solan exclaimed after running over. Cyrene followed him with Evania in her arms.

"Solan." Xena said.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't be so excited about the fighting but you never let me see. Too bad you didn't have to use the pinch." Solan said.

Xena covered her eyes. Solan was definitely her son.

"Ok. I need you to not be so obsessed with the pinch." Xena said. Solan shrugged his shoulders innocently. Then Xena took Evania back from Cyrene.

"You two have a family." Spiros said, surprised. He didn't imagine Xena being anyone's mother but he supposed he could understand. She was very protective of Esaias after she saved him all those years ago and it was obvious that Solan was a lot older than his son. He figured her maternal instincts had set in that day.

"Yeah, this is our daughter, Evania, our son, Solan and Xena's mother, Cyrene. Xena and I married a month ago." Hercules said.

"Really?" Spiros replied in obvious shock.

"Well we're going to go shop for dinner tonight." Xena said.

"Looks like we're eating stone tonight." Solan said.

"Have a little faith in me, will ya? I have the power under control."

"Really? Then why didn't you just use it in hat fight?" Solan asked.

"That wasn't the time to try it out."

"Neither is dinner."

"You know what, let's go... Herc, we'll see you at home. Goodbye Spiros, Esaias." Xena walked away with Solan, Cyrene and Evania.

"She's changed." Hercules said.

"Obviously." Spiros said.

"She hasn't been the same since that day... Are you two really well?"

"Yeah. It hasn't been easy but we've made it."

Later, Xena was concentrating on cooking dinner with her mind while Cyrene played with Evania. Solan and Hercules were outside.

"Xena, if you're risking ruining the entire dinner to avoid cooking, I will gladly take the job." Cyrene said.

"Geez mother, you sound like Solan and Herc. I don't have to avoid cooking. Hercules usually does the cooking anyway. Now would you let me focus." After accomplishing complete stillness within, Xena, tried to cook the layout of dinner with her mind and... it worked. "I did it. I told you all I could. I will never be a typical housewife but that's alright because nothing about us is a typical family."

"Uh... you can say that again. Xena, turn around." Cyrene said.

"What is it?" Xena turned around and saw Evania's rattle floating in the air until it met Evania's little hands. Xena and Cyrene's mouths were wide open, in shock.

"From the look on your face, you didn't know she could do that either. Looks like you're not the only one mastering new power." Cyrene said.

"No." Xena said then Hercules and Solan walked in. "Evania has powers!" Xena exclaimed still shocked.

"Powers? What kind of powers?" Hercules asked.

"She can move things with her mind." Xena said.

"I didn't think she would have powers, she's only a quarter god." Hercules said.

"Is it strange that she's meant to bring about the twilight of the gods but she partly one herself?" Xena asked.

"Not really... We're different." Hercules said taking Evania into his arms.

"I'd rather it not get around that she has these powers. If the gods know she has this power and they try something then they'll have the advantage, they'll figure out a way around it which would leave Vani at a disadvantage." Xena said.

"...And if they don't know then Vani would have the advantage over them." Hercules finished then noticed dinner was done. "No stone!" Xena playfully hit his arm.

"I told all of you I could do it. Isn't that right Vani? Let's eat family."

-v-

Xena, Gabrielle, Hercules and Iolaus were taking a walk. Once again Evania was strapped to Xena's chest asleep.

"Gabrielle and I have been talking and we're going to leave Cori and go on the road together." Iolaus said.

"Leave?" Xena and Hercules asked in unison.

"Yeah. Traveling all the time, it's not you anymore, either of you but we're not ready to stop. Besides, you don't need us anymore." Gabrielle said.

"That's not true." Xena said.

"You have each other, you no longer need the sidekicks who no one remembers anyway." Gabrielle said.

"That's ridiculous." Hercules said.

"It doesn't matter, we've made up our minds. You two be the heroes of Cori and we'll check out what's going on in the world." Iolaus said.

"We leave tomorrow." Gabrielle said.

"You're really doing it, you're really leaving." Xena said.

"Oh come on, we could never stay away from you guys too long. You're family. Besides... I think it's about time I let go a bit, start doing things on my own. Like you said, mama bird has to let her baby fly sometime. Not that you're my mother." Gabrielle said.

"...I guess." Xena said.

"We'll be back... We're like Argo, we'll always come back." Gabrielle joked.

The next day they had to say their goodbyes. Xena and Gabrielle were in Xena and Hercules' room.

"So I have to let you fly now." Xena said.

"Yeah you do and I never will if I don't let go. We've probably become a bit TOO codependent on each other." Gabrielle admitted.

"You're probably right. Put your fingers here." Xena pointed to the pressure points on her neck.

"Are you showing me the pinch?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yes so put your fingers here." Xena said.

"Xena, you don't have to." Gabrielle said.

"All these years and now you don't want to know?" Xena asked. "Put your fingers here!" Gabrielle finally did and Xena showed her what to do. Then showed her how to take it off.

"Why now?" Gabrielle asked.

"Now you know everything I know and you can't fly on one wing." Xena said and they hugged.

"You know I st

ill haven't mastered that flip." Gabrielle said.

"You're almost there, about one hundred more times with a staff and you'll be able to do it without it." They laughed and met Hercules, Iolaus, Solan and Evania outside. Gabrielle hugged Solan and Evania goodbye, said goodbye to Hercules then she and Iolaus got on Brownie and rode off into the sunset.

"I guess it's just us now." Xena said.


	19. A Family Affair

_Season 6_

A Family Affair

_17 years later..._

Solan and Evania were headed to Amphipolis on Argo's daughter, Elma to get Torres' twelve year old son, Lycius.

"Solan, I'm hungry!" Evania exclaimed with her long black hair blowing in the wind. She was as tall as Xena and she, Solan and Xena shared the same piercing blue eyes. She actually looked a lot like her big brother who was now six feet tall, very easy on the eyes and had muscles as big as Hercules.

"We'll stop at the next town." Solan said.

"But I'm hungry now." Evania said.

"Would you stop complaining, you could've stayed in Cori if you were going to do that the entire time." Solan said.

"Ok, Ok. I'll stop. Lycius is such a brat, why are we bringing him back to Cori?" Evania asked.

"I don't know. I think Uncle Torres is in some kind of trouble... I didn't ask. Mother wanted me to get him, I'm getting him. Besides, aren't you the loving, tolerant soul of the family? Why aren't you ever loving and tolerant with Lycius?" Solan asked.

"He pushes me to my limit." Evania replied.

"He's only twelve. We only see him once a year anyway, maybe he isn't so bad anymore." Solan said.

They arrived in Amphipolis soon enough and met Torres and Lycius.

"Thank you for coming for Lycius." Torres said.

"No problem. Is everything alright?" Solan asked.

"Yes, of course." Torres replied, obviously lying. "Please give my love to my mother and Xena."

"...I will." Solan said. He was concerned. He knew something was wrong. He just hoped everything would be fine. He headed back to Cori with Evania and Lycius riding Elma while he pulled them along. Halfway back, Solan sensed danger. He moved with caution. A bowed arrow came his way and he caught it before it hit his shoulder. "We've got trouble." Three men with swords came out ready to attack. "Vani, ride back to the lake we just passed not too long ago."

"But Solan!" Evania started, ready to plead with him.

"Now!" Solan exclaimed. Evania did as she was told. Solan began fighting the men with his staff and hitting them in places that were sure to paralyze them. By the end of the fight, none of the men were able to walk but they were all alive. Solan then ran back to Evania and Lycius. "We need to take a different route."

"Are you alright?" Evania asked.

"Yeah! Not a scratch, OK maybe a scratch but that's all. Let's go." Solan said.

"Not quite." A beautiful woman with golden skin and long black curly hair, wearing a gold feminine warlord outfit said.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Solan asked.

"Well killing you didn't work so I thought I'd talk to you. You just took down three of my best men all by your lonesome and you didn't even kill them, I'm impressed." The warlord said.

"I didn't do it to impress you, I did it to survive. Now excuse us." Solan said.

"Not so fast." The warlord said.

"You know, I don't like to fight women but if I have to, I will." Solan said.

"You're tough but I'd kill you." The warlord said.

"Are you sure about that?" Solan asked. The warlord drew her sword and she and Solan went back and forth with her sword and his staff until he hit her so hard in the back with the staff that she fell to the ground and he quickly grabbed her sword.

"You're fast. Why didn't you kill me?" The warlord asked.

"I don't kill." Solan said.

"Fool." The warlord said.

"Am I or are you?" Solan asked before he used pressure points to temporarily paralyze her so that they could ride off without her following them, he set a false track along the way in case she decided to track them for whatever reason she may do that.

"That was scary." Lycius said.

"Don't worry little cousin, we won't let anything happen to you. We're going to get to Cori safely. If we didn't there would be one angry mother on the leash." Solan said.

"Have you actually ever seen mom's bad side we hear about, mostly from strangers?" Evania asked.

"Sort of but not really, came close to seeing it a couple times though. You know mom has always been protective of what we see and don't see." Solan said.

They rode until it got dark then stopped to rest and took off again in the morning. They soon ran into trouble again. They looked from behind some bushes. An army was beginning to attack a village, it looked to be the same army that the warlord and the three men were from.

"What are we going to do?" Evania asked.

"We'll go around and avoid all this trouble." Solan said.

"Shouldn't we help them?"

"I couldn't get out of this without killing a bunch of them."

"But I could-" Evania started.

"No."

"And you could-" Evania began again.

"No!" Solan exclaimed.

"Mother and father would." Evania said.

"We're not them, the ex-warlord and the demigod." Solan said.

"Yeah but we can still fight just as well. They're the ones who taught us."

"You've never been in a real fight in your life. There's no way in Tartarus I'm letting you fight an army. Mom and dad would kill me."

"It doesn't mean I can't hold my own. I can kick ass and you know it."

"Please, if one hair is missing from the baby's pretty little head."

"I wish everyone would stop treating me like a baby. I'm not, you know!" Evania was annoyed. From the bushes, they heard a baby crying. "Solan, there's a baby. Don't you hear?" Evania asked. They peaked out and saw the warlord find the baby in the bushes and pick her up. The baby looked about six months old. Evania panicked, wondering what she would do. Solan got the feeling she wouldn't hurt the baby. Instead what she did was comfort her. "Are we sure that's the same warlord that tried to kill you yesterday?" The warlord noticed her army killing everything and everyone in sight. One was about to kill a child, about six years old. She ran over to stop him.

"What are you doing? I told you to kill the men who got in the way of what we're doing. I did not say, kill everything and everyone in sight, especially not children!" The warlord yelled.

"Women! Everyone here is worthless to us." The man said.

"You dare to disobey me?" The warlord killed him on the spot. Solan covered Evania and Lycius' eyes. The warlord turned to the little boy who was obviously terrified. "Do you see your mother?" The boy looked around and nodded when he spotted her. "Go to her." The boy ran to his mother then the baby began to cry.

"Fine, we help them." Solan said and Evania smiled knowing he would give in eventually. Solan could never just walk away from people in need but fighting an army while his little sister and little cousin was with him was night something he wanted to do. "You better not get hurt! Mom would kill me if she knew you were fighting. Lycius, stay with Elma. Elma, keep Lycius safe." Elma nodded as Lycius got on her. "Use your powers as a last resort, you don't need the attention."

Evania never understood why no one ever wanted her to use her powers in public. Solan and Evania ran into the chaos and instead of focusing on fighting the army they focused on getting the people out of the way and to safety. Whoever got in their way, they took them down like pros, like the warrior who charged at Evania with his sword as she was getting some of the people out of the way. She back flipped over his head, put him in a headlock then took his sword from him and jammed the handle into his groan. He instantly buckled to the ground. There were still a few left to wreak havoc and showed no signs of stopping. Solan threw the chakrum in which Xena had given to him years ago (she no longer needed it) to free a group of people who were tied up then caught it when it came back to him. "I really didn't want to have to do this." Solan thought after kicking a few more of their butts. He focused and turned the rest of the men to stone but instantly fell down after doing so.

"Solan!" Evania exclaimed, running to his side.

"I'm alright. That just took too much energy and I haven't mastered it yet. Are you ok?" Solan asked.

"I'm fine." Evania replied.

"How did you do that?" The warlord asked after running over.

"I think a better question is why did YOU do THIS?" Solan asked.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way." The warlord said. The baby began to cry again then Evania took her to the people they saved.

"Does anyone know who this baby's parents' are?" Evania asked.

"We've seen her before. Her parents were killed just moments before you saved us." A woman said. Evania took the baby back over to where Solan and the warlord were. "You killed her parents." Evania said to the warlord. The warlord looked tough but her eyes showed remorse. She just walked away.

"Wait a minute!" Solan yelled. Solan and Evania went to get Lycius and Elma then followed the warlord to her hut.

"Do you all have a death wish? Why did you follow me?" The warlord asked.

"You've already tried to kill me. You failed." Solan said. "What's your name?"

"Why?" The warlord asked.

"Because I want to know your name." Solan replied.

"It's Layla." The warlord replied trying to keep up her tough exterior.

"I'm Solan. You're not as tough as you pretend to be." Solan said.

"Excuse me?" Layla responded feeling a bit offended.

"Warlords tend to not show compassion because they're so filled with hate like the men in your army. You still have a heart, I watched you saved this baby, that little boy and you feel bad because her parents were killed because of what you did. I see the remorse in your eyes." Solan said.

"I didn't tell them to do that. They disobeyed me, they had to be stopped." Layla said.

"Why are you a warlord? This isn't you." Solan asked.

"Don't try to pretend like you know anything about me?" Layla yelled.

"Give us a minute." Solan said to Evania and Lycius. They left the hut with the baby still in Evania's arms.

"What?" Layla asked angrily.

"What made you save those children?" Solan asked.

"I don't kill children. They're innocent."

"Do you have a secret child or something?"

"No." Layla thought the question was ridiculous. "I was a child once and I was innocent, perhaps I would have stayed that way had I had parents... That's why I feel bad for that baby. No one deserves to grow up without parents to love them... Why am I pouring out my heart to you?"

"Because you have one and you almost forgot how to use it."

"You're one of those good people. Why are you wasting your time with me? I've done terrible things."

"I can see that your soul is worth saving. Just because you've done bad things in the past, it doesn't mean you have to continue or that you can't do better in your future. When you know better you do better and it does make a difference."

"Can I ask you something? Why have you never killed? You and the girl, you fight like pros, like warriors."

"We're not warriors, it's not our way. We fight, merely just to defend ourselves and help someone in need. My sister has never been in a real fight before today and I'm no warrior, I'm just a writer and a healer who happened to learn how to fight from the best."

"Your sister didn't look like that was her first fight."

"Like I said, we learned from the best... Come with us."

"Come with you?"

"If you're tired of this life and want to change and you CAN change, come with us."

"Don't you think you'd be foolish to trust a warlord like me?"

"You don't have the heart of a warlord... I'm a good judge of character and I can take you. I already have. Actually, I've beaten you and your army so I'm pretty sure I have nothing to worry about."

"I've seen how you fight now."

"Oh trust me, I've got moves you haven't even thought of."

"You realize I'm one of the best warriors alive?"

"Is that so? I don't know about that but I know THE best. You don't intimidate me. I don't intimidate easily. So are you coming or not?" Layla waited awhile to answer. She found Solan attractive from the moment she saw him. The fact that he fought so well, didn't take any of her BS but still gave her attention and believed in her like no one else has done in her life just made him more attractive to her.

"... Today I saw that I became everything I did not want to be, everything I despised... Can I do that, can I just say, I'm tired of being bad, let's be good?" Layla asked.

"Yes. It's all a matter of choices." Solan said.

"You seem so sure." Layla said.

"I am." Solan said.

-v-

Meanwhile, outside, a boy about eighteen was flirting with Evania. He had dark hair, dark eyes, a muscular body and dressed in all black leather.

"I saw you fighting back there, you were amazing." The boy said.

"I was just helping, I'm no fighter." Evania giggled.

"Yes you are, you should embrace it. I'm Owen by the way." He said.

"Evania." She introduced herself.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Owen said causing Evania to giggle and blush.

"Ok, smooth talker, get away from my little sister." Solan said as he came out of the hut with Layla.

"Solan!" Evania exclaimed.

"He's bad news." Solan said.

"You don't know him." Evania said.

"I know enough. Let's go." Solan said.

"Wait a minute, she's not coming, is she?" Lycius asked.

"Yes." Solan replied.

"Talk about bad news." Evania said.

"I know what I'm doing." Solan said.

"What about your army?" Evania asked Layla with an attitude.

"Solan turned most of them to stone. I don't even have enough men left for an army and I'm retiring from being a warlord. I can't be responsible for taking away children's families like mine was taken from me." Layla said.

"We'll just have to take the baby too until we find a home for her." Solan said.

"Bye Owen." Evania smiled and waved goodbye. They all continued on their journey until they got back to Cori. Xena and Hercules were outside the house, almost two decades older but both had aged well, were still in good shape and good health, not counting Xena's bad back.

"Mother! Father!" Solan exclaimed.

"You're back! You're two days late, I was about to send a search party out for you all. You know I sensed something was wrong." Xena said as she hugged Evania and Solan but then noticed a cut on Evania's arm caused by a sword. "What happened?" Xena asked in a very serious tone. Solan scratched his head.

"See, there was this village being attacked and we sort of had to save them." Solan replied. Xena understood but she wasn't at all happy about Evania being in a fight, especially a big one with swords involved. Solan could handle himself, he'd been fighting for awhile.

"You're staying home next time." Xena said to Evania.

"Mother, I'm almost eighteen!" Evania exclaimed.

"Almost but not quite, you still have six months to go." Xena said.

"You're so over protective." Evania said.

"You'll thank me later. Lycius, are you alright?" Xena asked.

"Yes, Aunt Xena." Lycius replied.

"So I sent you for one and you came back with three. Who are your friends?" Xena asked but could tell by Layla's outfit that she was a warlord.

"This is Layla, we met on the way here and this little baby girl is Kalie." Solan said.

"Kalie?" Evania, Layla and Lycius repeated, confused because they didn't know the baby's name.

"Yeah. I was thinking about it on the ride over here. Don't you all like it?" Solan asked.

"Yeah." They replied slowly, all thinking he was already becoming attached to this child.

"We found Kalie too." Solan said.

"You found her?" Hercules asked.

"It's a long story." Solan replied. "Anyway, Layla, this is my mother and father, Xena and Hercules."

"THE Xena: Warrior Princess and THE Hercules are your parents? So when you said you learned from the best, you really meant THE best." Layla said.

"Yes I did and I thought it'd be a good idea for you and mother to talk. You have a lot in common." Solan said.

"Oh do we now?" Xena replied.

"They're back!" Hesperos, Joxer and Meg's seventeen year old adopted son exclaimed running over to them with a daisy in his hand and gave it to Evania. "This is for you."

"Uh...thanks." Evania replied. Hesperos had a crush on Evania since they were tots and she knew it but wasn't interested.

Joxer and Meg, along with their fifteen year old son, Nisan and ten year old daughter, Mira walked over. After adopting Hesperos, Meg found out she was pregnant with Nisan. It was a miracle sense she had given up hope of being able to have any children naturally. Meg, didn't age as well as Xena, gained a few pounds and definitely looks her age but at least she didn't have all the aches and pains that Xena had acquired from all the fighting she'd done over the years.

Soon enough, Gabrielle and Iolaus came over from their house with their fifteen year old daughter, Faith who was in a relationship with Nisan. After a year of being on the road together and another year of Gabrielle taking her thrown as Amazon queen, Gabrielle and Iolaus decided to get married. A year later they had their only child, Faith. Gabrielle, being the youngest of all the adults could still kick a good butt or two without throwing her back out. Hercules' strength let him physically get away with a lot more too.

Cyrene was in her seventies but still lived in a house nearby.

"Dinner is ready and so is the campfire so let's eat. I'll go get Cyrene." Hercules said then came back a few minutes later with her and they all ate together. Solan and Layla talked inside the house after dinner.

"How does it feel to be surrounded by a family?" Solan asked.

"Unfamiliar. Good." Layla replied.

"I know the feeling." Solan replied.

"How could you know the feeling, you're always surrounded by family and extended family?" Layla asked.

"Not always. I was raised by the centaurs until I was ten years old. I didn't meet my mother until I was nine, I didn't know she was my mother until I was ten. Then my uncle Kaleipus who raised me was killed and I came to live with her. Though I had the centaurs, it was really just me and my uncle but when I came to live with my mom, I got all of this, little by little the family grew." Solan explained.

"Maybe you do sort of get it but why did it take so long for you to meet your mother, she's great?" Layla asked.

"She was a bad ass like you, probably worst. I'm sure you've heard some stories. She worried about me getting killed by one of her enemies or turning out like her but she changed. I've never met the person my mother used to be." Solan said.

"That's why you believed in me? I remind you of your mother?" Layla asked.

"Yeah. I figured if someone believed in you like my father believed in my mom, maybe you'd believe in yourself and change." Solan said.

"So... Hercules is your father, that's how you were able to turn my army into stone." Layla said.

"No. Hercules is my step-father. That power was learned. I learned it from my mother who learned it from a friend but I haven't done it much and I'm still fairly new to it so it makes me weak." Solan explained.

"Oh... can you teach it to me?" Layla asked.

"No." Solan said.

"What about the way you paralyze people, can you show me that?" Layla asked.

"No." Solan replied.

"You don't trust me not to hurt people, do you?" Layla asked.

"It's not that but much power and knowledge brings much responsibility." Solan said.

"I'm going to change. I have changed. I promise." Layla said.

"I believe you." Solan kissed Layla passionately. About a minute later they heard Xena clear her voice to make her presence known.

"Sorry to interrupt." Xena said, not really sorry.

"I'll be outside." Layla said leaving the room.

"She doesn't seem like your type." Xena said.

"What's my type?" Solan asked.

"Aphrodite." Xena replied.

"I was a little boy." Solan said.

"That's why to this day when you see her you get tongue tied and act like a little boy again." Xena pointed out.

"Ok, that's not the point. They say men are most attracted to women who are most like their mothers." Solan said.

"That's supposed to make me feel better? That makes me more nervous." Xena asked.

"I see in her what dad saw in you." Solan said.

"She was the one attacking that village, wasn't she?" Xena asked.

"Yes but she was also the one that saved Kalie." Solan said.

"You named her after Kaleipus, didn't you?" Xena asked.

"I guess... maybe... yes." Solan replied.

"Are you getting attached?" Xena asked.

"No." Solan said before he heard Kalie crying then rushed outside to tend to her but Layla already had it taken care of.

"So much for not getting attached." Xena laughed.

"When I was a little girl in Egypt, that's where I'm from, my parents were killed by Greeks then I was kidnapped and brought here. I've just always been so angry." Layla said to Solan as she held Kalie in her arms. "I wanted them to hurt like I hurt but I didn't realize all the innocent people I was hurting in the process until I held her."

"That's what hate will do but love is always the cure." Solan said.

"She's getting sleepy." Layla said.

"I'll find Evania's old bassinet. Come with me." Solan and Layla went back into the tavern with Kalie. He found the bassinet, set it up, cleaned it up and put it in his room. Then they sat on the bed together.

"When are you going to look for a home for her?" Layla asked.

"I think I already found it. I'm attached already." Solan said.

"So you've never moved out of your parents' place?"

"I just moved back actually. I've spent years traveling the world but I always come back. As you can see, I'm pretty attached to my family. I can't let go. I'll probably get a house nearby soon."

"You're too good to be true... You've made me fall in love with you in a matter of a few days." Layla said.

"I love you too." Solan kissed her passionately as he laid her down on his bed until Kalie made a noise. "Perhaps we should just talk" They laid comfortably on the bed.

"Not to pry but of all the people in the world, why'd your mom leave you with the centaurs?" Layla asked.

"...Well the centaurs are good, peaceful creatures and my father, Borias was on their side in a war. She knew I'd be safe. They're still family to me. I was devastated when they were attacked a few years ago." Solan replied before they fell asleep together.

* * *

_Solan & Evania are all grown up, we didn't get to see Solan grow up on the show so what do you all think about how they turned out?_


	20. Twilight: Part I

Twilight: Part I

Kalie's cries woke Solan up the next morning. He noticed Layla was no longer lying next to him and went to take Kalie from her bassinet.

"Are you hungry, Kalie?" Solan asked taking her into the kitchen. Xena, Hercules, Evania and Lycius were already there.

"Good morning. We got more baby food for Kalie." Xena said taking Kalie into her arms. "Come to grandmother."

"Gandmother?" Solan asked.

"She's staying, isn't she?" Xena asked.

"Yeah but how did you know I would-" Solan started.

"We know you." Evania said.

"Have any of you seen Layla?" Solan asked.

"No." Xena replied simply.

"I told you not to bring her." Lycius said.

"Lycius, Solan is perfectly capable of making his own decisions. He doesn't need our two cents about it." Xena said.

"Why do you think she left mother?" Solan asked.

"...Unless of course he asks... I don't know, too much too soon maybe." Xena replied.

"She changed. I know she did." Solan said.

"I believe you." Xena said as she fed Kalie.

-v-

Later, Evania and Faith were walking back to the tavern from the town. They've been best friends their whole lives.

"I can't wait to see Nisan!" Faith exclaimed.

"You see him almost every day." Evania said.

"Yes but I love him." Faith said.

"It's funny. Uncle Joxer used to be madly in love with Aunt Gabrielle and she wasn't interested but his son managed to snag her daughter." Evania said.

"How do you know that?" Faith had never heard about Joxer being in love with her mother.

"Solan told me." Evania replied. Then Owen approached them.

"Evania!" Owen called.

"Owen, what are you doing here?" Evania asked.

"I'm passing through this town. Do you live around here?" Owen asked.

"Yeah. Right here actually." Evania replied as they stepped onto their property.

"I can't help but admire your beauty and you're tall like an amazon." Owen said.

"I know plenty of amazons and most of them aren't tall." Evania said.

"Yeah, I'm an amazon princess and I'm not tall at all." Faith said.

"Point taken but I keep thinking about how you fight. Have you considered embracing it like I suggested?" Owen asked.

"Not really, like I said I'm no warrior. I just wanted to help those people who you all were attacking." Evania said.

"I didn't attack them. I was just Layla's assistant." Owen said.

"My brother says I can't trust you." Evania said.

"He trusted Layla, what do you think? Do you think you can trust me? I can change too." Owen kissed Evania on the cheek. She giggled.

"I suppose." Evania smiled.

"I can fight for good like you." Owen pulled out his sword. "I can use this to fight the bad guys instead... Imagine how many more people you can save if you have one of these. There are so many bad people in the world and they have swords, you need one too." Owen gave Evania the sword and held it with her.

"Who in tartarus are you?" Hercules asked as he and Xena walked out of the house.

"Father, this is Owen." Evania said.

"Owen, I think you should stay away from my daughter." Hercules said as he took the sword from Evania. "Recognize this?" Hercules handed the sword to Xena.

"Ares' sword." Xena said then put the pinch on Owen. "Stay away from my daughter. If you come anywhere near her again, I'll kill you and tell Ares this is his warning too. He'll know what I mean." Xena took the pinch off of him then he ran.

"Stay away from that boy." Hercules said before he and Xena went back inside.

"What do you think Ares is planning?" Hercules asked.

"We haven't seen him in almost eighteen years, now he shows up but I'm sure he hasn't changed much. I think he's trying to lure Evania to his side before the twilight happens so that he can save his ass, so he sends one of his attractive, young male prodigies to do the dirty work. It's actually smarter than trying to kill her." Xena replied. "I feel like we should just tell her the prophecy. I feel like we're lying by not telling her."

"The angels told us not to tell her. They said she'd learn it on her own." Hercules said.

"I know but it still doesn't feel right. It seems like she should know now." Xena said. They heard screams and ran outside. Strife and Discord had Evania and Faith and disappeared.

"Still think we shouldn't tell her?" Xena asked.

Gabrielle ran up to them.

"I was walking here when I heard screams. Is everything ok?" Gabrielle asked.

"Strife and Discord took Evania and Faith, most likely to Ares." Hercules said. Gabrielle instantly looked panicked.

"We have to go get them!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Hercules and I will go and we'll bring them both back. We need you stay here with Lycius." Xena said.

"Xena, it's my daughter!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"I know and we love her too. Trust us, Herc and I can handle Ares a lot better than you can." Xena said.

"Are you sure, with that back and those knees?" Gabrielle asked.

"My back and knees are fine! Trust us. "We'll bring them both back safe and sound. I promise. I owe you that much." Xena said.

"You better." Gabrielle said.

-v-

Evania and Faith were sitting side by side, tied up at Ares' temple alone.

"We're going to die! We're going to die!" Faith cried out.

"Faith! Have faith!" Evania exclaimed.

"Have faith, are you kidding me? We've just been kidnapped and we're tied up!" Faith exclaimed.

"Boy do you have the wrong name." Evania said before using her powers to untie them.

"Oh, I guess I got so scared I forgot you could do that." Faith said.

"Let's just get out of here." Evania said before they began to run toward the door. Then Athena appeared in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

"How did you get untied?" Athena asked.

"I have many skills." Evania smiled.

"Ugh! You're like your mother." Athena said before Ares, Strife, Discord and Owen walked in.

"I thought I told you two to watch them!" Athena yelled.

"They were tied up. We got bored." Discord said.

"Why are they here? You know Xena and Hercules will come riding in on horseback any minute now." Ares asked.

"Yeah but they will think that you took them which will give me the advantage to take them out first. You're the only one who would bother to take Gabrielle's little brat. This is just more reason to point the finger at you." Athena said.

"You should have let me handle this." Ares said.

"You were taking too long." Athena said.

"But my way would have worked, especially if this idiot didn't get us caught." Ares said referring to Owen. "But I had a plan B."

"Why should any of us trust you anyway? You're the one who saved her in the first place because of your obsession with her mother." Athena said.

"Maybe I'm just smarter than you all. Do I need to remind you why Zeus is dead?" Ares asked.

"Look, you two are wasting time! Kill her and get it over with!" Discord yelled. Athena went to hit Evania, she missed and they began to fight.

"Faith, get out of the way!" Evania yelled and Faith moved quickly. Evania and Athena continued to fight until Evania drew blood from Athena's face. Evania was surprised. "You're a god, god's don't bleed." Athena drew her sword and went to stab Evania but Evania moved then used her power to take the sword from her.

"You have powers." Athena was surprised.

"Apparently, more than I thought. Now I have your sword and we both know what I can do with it." Evania said.

"You're hot and fight just like your mother." Ares said.

"Ew, don't be a perv UNCLE Ares." Evania said.

"Darn, you are my niece, aren't you? That's unfortunate. Anyway, Athena, this is what you get for being impatient, my way would have worked. She didn't even know that she could kill us. Now she does. Aren't you supposed to be the goddess of wisdom because I can't tell right now." Ares said.

"Shut up Ares!" Athena exclaimed. Xena and Hercules walked in.

"Yeah, shut up Ares." Xena said.

"Long time, no see. You've aged well my love." Ares said. Xena and Hercules noticed Evania pointing the sword at Athena.

"Looks like the tables have turned. That's my girl. You all didn't honestly think we wouldn't teach our daughter how to defend herself now did you?" Xena said.

"I was smart enough to know that. That's why my plan would have worked." Ares said.

"It wouldn't have worked just to let you know but it was smarter." Xena said.

"It looked like it was working to me." Ares said.

"Well you were wrong." Xena said knowing how naïve Evania was about certain things. Evania did seem to be falling for Ares' plan but she was pretty sure Evania would've figured it out eventually, probably just before it was too late, however, between herself, Hercules and Solan they would have figured it out and stopped it long before it got that far.

Evania stared at Owen in anger, mostly at herself because she was falling for him even after she was warned to stay away. She was wondering if Ares' plan, whatever it was, would have worked.

"We're going to take our daughter and Faith, we're going to go and you all are going to let us." Hercules said and Faith ran over to him.

"Vani, keep the sword. It might come in handy." Xena said.

"Time for plan B. Oh plan B!" Ares called then two of the biggest enemies of all time walked out, one in which was the spitting image of Gabrielle. Faith was confused.

"Callisto." Hercules said.

"And you remember Gabrielle's first daughter, Hope." Ares said. Faith had never heard anything about Hope, she was completely lost.

"Oh Ares, this is really low." Xena said.

"It's all about survival my princess." Ares laughed.


	21. Twilight: Part II

Twilight: Part II

_"Time for plan B. Oh plan B!" Ares called then two of the biggest enemies of all walked out, one in which was the spitting image of Gabrielle._

_"Callisto." Hercules said._

_"And you remember Gabrielle's first daughter, Hope." Ares said. Faith's ears were definitely wide open now because this was news to her._

_"Oh Ares, this is really low." Xena said._

_"It's all about survival my princess." Ares laughed._

* * *

"So Xena we meet again after twenty years... Luckily, I'm immortal and you're not, time seems to have given me an advantage over you." Callisto said. Xena was getting annoyed with the constant references to her age but at the same time she thought it was funny that they thought it would actually make a difference. Maybe she couldn't somersault in the air and do crazy kicks along with all the other outrageous moves that she used to do but she picked up other skills in the past seventeen years that are even more effective than that.

"I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you." Xena smirked. She couldn't help but flashback to the fights she had with Callisto. Callisto's skills almost matched her own but her weakness was her lack of focus which allowed Xena to win every time. The only reason she was even still alive was first because of Xena's guilt for killing her family so at one point she held compassion for her but then it was because of her stupid immortality.

Ares ordered Discord, Strife and Owen to leave them.

"As fun as this little trip down memory lane is, we really have to go." Xena raised her hands and anticipated using the power she learned from Lao Ma which she's now mastered to turn Athena, Callisto and Ares into stone. Of course there were other things she could do but that seemed to be the most effective for a god and goddesses she couldn't kill.

"Hope." A familiar voice said with surprise.

"Hello mommy." Hope said.

Xena, Hercules, Evania and Faith turned around.

"Gabrielle, what are you doing here? I told you we'd handle it." Xena said.

"I couldn't just wait around... I never listen anyway." Gabrielle replied. It was the truth. Xena shook her head. "Good thing I did come."

"Look, it's a family reunion!" Callisto exclaimed.

Gabrielle gazed at Hope. It was a miracle to her. She finally had another chance in her mind.

Xena finally turned Ares, Athena and Callisto into stone.

"I'm sorry Gabrielle." Xena said. She had to put an end to Hope, she had to kill her. She was a demon and she would only wreak havoc on the world. It was the sole purpose of her existence. Xena knew Gabrielle didn't see it that way, she saw Hope as her daughter who had potential to be good with her help. This wasn't going to go over too well. Hope was mortal, at least she was supposed to be but Xena couldn't understand how she was there.

"No!" Gabrielle yelled, knowing Xena's intention to kill Hope. "I won't let you do it."

"I'm sorry, I have to." Xena quickly used her power to set Hope on fire.

"No! How could you do that?" Gabrielle asked angrily.

"I'm sorry." Xena understood how Gabrielle felt. Both Solan and Evania were targeted to be killed before and it was the worst feeling Xena had ever felt. She couldn't imagine ever hurting Faith but Hope wasn't even really human. She was a demon, naturally evil spirit. Xena had to make the choice to spare one or the many and she chose the many, even if that broke her best friend's heart. It had to be done.

Gabrielle fell to the floor in tears then Hercules went over to her.

"Gabby, come home with us." Hercules said remorsefully.

"No! We're no longer friends." Gabrielle replied. Hercules looked at Xena who was obviously saddened by the situation. Hercules went back over to Xena then Faith went to Gabrielle. "Leave us."

"Let's go." Xena said.

The three of them rode back home to work on a strategy. At this point it wouldn't be long before the Olympians attacked.

"Are you all alright?" Solan asked as his family entered the house. "Gabrielle told be what happened. She left Lycius with me after I got here."

"We're fine." Evania replied as Solan took her into his arms. Before the family talked, Xena and Hercules went to their room.

"This might just be the end of my friendship with Gabrielle." Xena said.

"She'll come to understand." Hercules said.

"No she won't. Hope may have been a demon but Gabrielle saw her as her child and I wouldn't understand if she killed either my children." Xena said.

"But Gabby killed Hope the first time." Hercules pointed out.

"Not because she wanted to, it was the only chance she had of saving Solan and the other children at the time. Given more time, Gabrielle would have tried to bring the good out of Hope but it never would have worked because she's a demon, not really human. Even though she's moved on, when Gabrielle saw Hope she felt like it was another chance for her and Hope and that I stood in the way of it. Trust me, I know her... All of this is just bringing up unpleasant memories and regrets like I don't have enough already."

"Like what?" Hercules asked moving closer to her on the bed for comfort.

"You don't realize the domino effect of your actions when you're doing them, especially when you're young. I shouldn't have given Solan to the centaurs." Xena said.

"You did it to protect him." Hercules reminded her.

"I should have kept him and stopped being an evil power crazy warlord wanting to destroy nations. I saw what I had become. I didn't want him to be like me but I could have changed, become someone I wouldn't mind him looking up to. How could I see what I had become and continue to do the same thing? I could have taken Solan and lived under the radar where my enemies wouldn't find us. Had I done that, Kaleipus wouldn't have died that day. Callisto wouldn't have become the evil she became because her family would still be alive and Hope would have never been born." Xena said.

"You're right but you can't change the past. Maybe in some alternate universe you did make that decision but in this universe you made the decision that made the most sense based on who you were at the time. You changed when you were ready to change and I'm pretty sure that the day you had Solan was the beginning of the person you were meant to become, you just weren't ready to change completely yet. Like you said, every decision has a domino effect and sure some bad came out of it but a lot of good came out of it too. Look at where you are, the person you've become. Your decisions also led you to me... Evania, Gabrielle, Joxer and all the other great people you have in your life, not to mention all the people you've saved." Hercules said.

"..You have a point, I know... it just helped to say it all out loud instead of replaying it in my mind. I just can't get those years without Solan back or all the bad things that I've done." Xena leaned on Hercules' strong shoulder.

"There's always the next life... and then eternity in the Elysian Fields. Doesn't really compare in the long run, does it?" Hercules asked.

"You know, I've seen one of my future lives. I become this mother of peace. I guess my decisions have gotten me that far." Xena reflected on her time in India from long ago. "Well, now that's all off my chest, let's help our daughter defeat these assholes we call gods." Xena and Hercules met Solan and Evania in the kitchen table. Kalie was now up from a nap and playing in a play pen Solan had made for her. "Let's come up with a strategy, shall we?"

"Wait. I have a few questions because apparently I've missed a lot." Evania said. "Aunt Gabby has another daughter?"

"Not really, see she's just a demon that was implanted into Gabrielle so that she'd be the mother. She was supposed to be long since dead... She was the one who killed Kaleipus and she was going to kill you Solan before Gabrielle poisoned her to save you." This was the first time Solan heard any details about who killed Kaleipus and who exactly was after him that day. He was a bit surprised. It wasn't exactly the answer Evania was expecting either.

"Wow... ok... so... secondly... you and Uncle Ares?" Evania asked in disgust.

"Look, that was long before Herc and I were ever together, back when I wasn't... so good." Xena said.

"Mother, he's apparently obsessed with you and I can believe it too. He thought it was hot when I reminded him of you. Oh yeah, he's a sleaze bag too. From what I saw after you walked in, he's still obsessed with you. While I was there, I heard that he saved me because of his obsession with you. What's that about?" Evania asked.

"That's true, see before you were born the gods were trying to kill me and you to stop you from being born because they knew that you would bring the twilight so Ares took us to another world so that you could be born without the gods attacking. It wasn't just Ares though, Aphrodite and Hera helped save us too." Xena explained.

"Aunt Dite I can understand but didn't Hera kill my other brothers and sisters?" Evania asked.

"Yeah, it was a surprise to us too." Hercules said.

"So you're telling me that you all knew that I had the power to kill gods before I was even born but yet no one has bothered to tell me?" Evania asked a bit irritated.

"We weren't supposed to. Our guardian angels, they came to us to assure us that we would be protected from the raft of the gods but they also told us that you would figure this whole thing out in your own time. I don't think they meant for you to find out the way you did though. We were just going to go ahead and tell you once we got you back but you already knew by then." Xena said and Evania sighed.

"... So fine, this is my power, my destiny but I've never killed before, never wanted to, never planned to and it doesn't make it easier because they're gods." Evania said. Suddenly, a calm yet zoned out look came across Evania's face, she was completely still and wouldn't respond to anything.

"Vani?" Xena was becoming concerned but it wasn't long before Evania came out of the trance.

"What happened?" Solan asked.

"I don't have to kill the gods. If I touch each one with intent to take their powers, they will become mortal. Another thing is, we're meant to do this together, all four of us as a family. We're strongest together and the most powerful."

"Great but how do you know that?" Solan asked.

"I don't know. I just do. It's like it came right to me when I needed it." Evania replied.

"So great, you don't have to kill them but you have to touch them in order to make them mortal which means you have to get close to them and that won't be that easy. They'll use their power on you before you get anywhere near them." Hercules said.

"Vani has power of her own and she can fight them pretty well, all of us together would be like war." Solan said.

"You're right, if we get them weak enough which is harder to do because of their power then Vani can get close enough to take their power away and besides, they'll underestimate us which will give us an advantage... We don't have much time before the other gods find out that I turned Ares, Athena and Callisto to stone. We need to go after them before they come after us." Xena said. They came up with their plan, plotted and schemed. They were sure their plan would work.

Joxer agreed to babysit Kalie and Lycius while they were gone. It was time to mortalize some gods.

Xena, Evania, Hercules and Solan headed back to Ares' temple. Xena and Evania went into the room first. It was apart of their plan but little did they know, they were going to have to go with their own plan B. Ares, Athena and Callisto were back to normal and even more to their surprise Gabrielle was on their side.

"It seems I've actually managed to underestimate you princess." Ares said.

"I told you all not to do that." Xena smiled.

"It seems you've acquired some new skills over the years."

"Oh you have no idea." Xena said in a flirty tone.

"Aunt Gabby, you don't want to do this. Don't leave your path. Love is the way, remember, not hate or revenge?" Evania got through to Gabrielle a little but she didn't budge. She was clouded with pain. Xena didn't bother, she would try to get through to Gabrielle later but right now, they needed to follow through with the plan.

"The other gods are aware of what's going on. How do you think I got them back to normal?" Gabrielle asked rhetorically.

"Ares, I'm surprised you haven't checked in on me in all these years, even secretly." Xena said as she walked over to him.

"It was hard to resist but I told you I wouldn't be there if you needed me."

"It took me a long time to admit that I did need you."

"Don't fall for it, she's-" Gabrielle started before Xena used her power to throw her across the room.

"She's right, this is some type of game." Ares said.

"I'm too old for games, Ares. Even if this was a game, you got me right where you want me." Xena caressed the war gods arms, as much as his head was telling him not to fall for this, he wanted to believe it so much.

"Oh please, cut the crap. Let's kill them." Callisto said and Evania telekinetically threw Callisto and Athena across the room.

"Come back to me and we'll spare you." Xena said.

"What about Hercules?" Ares asked.

"What about him?" Xena whispered in his ear, he smiled. Evania then did Xena's famous flip until she was standing behind Ares. Then she touched him, draining all the power from him.

"What did you just do?" Ares yelled in anger. Xena moved away from him.

"Well Ares, you're no longer the god of war, you're no longer even a god. Welcome to mortal life." Xena said.

"Why would you do that to me? I saved your little brat. I love you." Ares said.

"You also brought Hope and Callisto back to hurt us. Pay back's a bitch." Xena said. Ares tried to use his power to throw Xena across the room. "You're mortal Ares!" Xena taunted. It just made Ares angrier and he began to charge at Xena before she used her power to throw him across the room. "I wouldn't try that again if I were you." Ares looked at her in shock.

"I can't believe I fell for your little trick." Ares said.

"Oh please, you could never resist me and I still got it." Xena smiled. Gabrielle, Callisto and Athena finally got up. Xena threw Gabrielle in a chair using her power then just held Callisto and Athena back but it wasn't easy to hold them because of their own power. Solan and Hercules ran in then Hercules got hold of Athena so Xena just needed to hold Callisto back.

"Vani, you need to do this before the others show up." Xena said.

Evania went over to Athena and touched her, draining her of her power then did the same to Callisto. They then had the strength of mortals but were more hostel than ever. They were going to be a problem so Xena turned them back to stone.

"Solan, they'll be here soon. Are you ready? I can't hold them alone." Xena asked.

"Yeah I think so." Solan replied.

"Use it or lose it, just focus and remember why we're doing this. You'll be fine." Xena said.

Soon enough the other gods and goddesses showed up. Xena and Solan used their powers to confine them to where they were but it took everything they had in them to hold ones as powerful as the gods all at once. First Evania went to each one and touched them until she got an idea.

"Vani, we can't hold them for long." Xena announced.

"If I can move things with my mind without touching them and mom and Solan can do that and more with theirs, I should be able to turn them to mortal with my mind. It's worth a shot. It'd be much faster." Evania thought.

She focused all her energy into taking the gods powers away and making them mortal. Finally, they lost their godly strength, they instantly felt different, they felt mortal. They forgot what it felt like to feel that way since they had been gods and goddesses for centuries. They were mad, very mad and though Xena, Evania, Solan and Hercules were outnumbered, the four were without a doubt, more powerful. When they tried to attack, they would just get thrown across the room, either with Xena, Evania or Solan's power or Hercules would physically throw them.

Xena walked over to Gabrielle who was still on the chair she was thrown in to.

"I know you're angry but you know you're like a sister to me. I never wanted to hurt you." Xena said

"You didn't have to kill her." Gabrielle replied, shaking her head.

"I know you don't believe it but she would have killed. What if she went after Faith or Iolaus?"

"I could have saved her." Gabrielle said before Aphrodite appeared. She was the only god left.

"You couldn't have saved her. Xena's right." Aphrodite said.

"How could you say that? You know the life I saw with her and you're the goddess of love. Don't you believe that there's love in everyone; that at the end of the day love conquers all?"

"Of course babe but like Xe said, Hope wasn't human. In the life you saw with her, she was human and it was meant to give you closure and for the most part it has but you have to let her go."

Gabrielle cried and Aphrodite hugged her.

"It's ok Gab." Aphrodite said before taking Gabrielle home. Faith was taken there earlier. Aphrodite returned minutes later. "I guess it's my turn to be de-goddessed."

"You know, auntie goddess of love. You've been the least selfish of all the gods. Maybe it's because of what you represent but doing the right thing usually pays off. You'll be mortal but unlike the rest, you get to keep most of your powers." Evania said.

"Thank you!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

"It wasn't my decision. I'm just the messenger. Are you ready?"

"Let's get it over with it." Aphrodite took Evania's hands. Less than a minute later she was mortal.

"This brings us to the end of the twilight." Evania said.

What a relief it was for Xena and the family for it to finally be behind them._  
_


	22. Xena's Family

Xena's Family

_Five months later..._

Solan was outside with Argo and Elma. He had a vet come take a look at Argo because she's been a bit under the weather lately.

"How is she? My mother loves this horse. I know she's pretty old." Solan asked.

"She is old and I'm afraid her days are numbered, but make sure you give her this medicine everyday. It should ease her pain and slow down the process." The vet said.

"Thank you, sir." Solan said before walking him out. As he left, Layla was walking toward him. "Layla... You're back."

"Yeah. I'm sorry I just left like that.." Layla said.

"Why did you leave like that, didn't even get a goodbye."

"You're so good. I didn't think I deserved you. I decided to leave before I hurt you or I got hurt."

I knew who you were and I accepted you for who you were."

"I know and I missed you. I missed Kalie, After trying to redeem myself all this time, I decided to come back, hopefully you still want me."

"I've missed you too. I do want you, just don't leave again. Give us a chance." They went inside and found Xena in the kitchen. "Mother, look who's back."

"I see. Hello." Xena replied.

"I'm going to get Kalie." Solan said then left the room. Layla had a seat at the table.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" Layla asked

"If I didn't like you, believe me you'd know it. I have no right to judge you. As you know I have a dark past of my own. My concern is the future. As long as you don't hurt Solan, we should be on good terms." Xena said.

"I love Solan." Layla assured.

"Then we shouldn't have a problem." Xena replied.

"Can I ask you something? Why did you teach Solan and Evania to fight almost as well as you used to if you didn't want them to be warriors?"

"They're the children of Xena and Hercules, it'd be suicide for them to go out into the world full of people who hate us, some people will want to fight them just to test them and then there are some who are like I used to be. You attacked Solan yourself, do you really have to ask why we taught them to fight? But anyway... Solan used to be obsessed with the pinch. I didn't teach him how to do it until just a few years ago. He had a big interest in pressure points after that, at this point he knows some things I don't even know after being out in the world on his own." Xena explained.

"Yeah, I've seen some of what he can do. It's fascinating. He fascinates me. He could use his skills for bad but he doesn't. I admit, it also fascinates me that he can beat me. It's rare that I come across someone who can."

"... If you are as great as you say you are and Owen was your assistant, I suppose you had a run in with Ares."

"Yeah... When I met Ares, I was really young and angry. All I wanted was vengeance on anyone who had anything to do with taking my family from me or caused me pain throughout my childhood. He took me under his wing, taught me everything I know. He trained others but I was his favorite. He always compared our skills to someone whose name he would never mention. If anyone could even come close to that, we could get somewhat on his good side. I loved him... we had something. At least I thought we did but I always had a feeling his mind, or his heart was on someone else so I got over it. We remained close though, friends I mean. He trained me into this great warrior so I promised him I'd teach Owen everything I knew... And I didn't mean to give you the entire Layla/Ares history." Layla said causing Xena chuckle.

"I guess we are a little more alike than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's best you didn't know but don't be surprised if he shows up here. He's Hercules' brother and he's mortal now. I'm pretty sure he'll be asking for our help sooner than later. There's one way that we differ though from what I can tell... and I'm sure it's what saved you."

"What's that?"

"You never convinced yourself that you didn't need love, you kept looking for it. I tried to convince myself that I didn't need it, think I believed it for a while, a long while but eventually there was Solan, then Hercules, Gabrielle and a couple other people who put their lives on the line for me and believed in me in between that. Slowly but surely they reminded me that I really had nothing without love. If it weren't for them, hell I probably would've figured out a way to take down Julius Caesar and became the Empress of Rome or something." Xena reflected and laughed a little. "Damn, I was good at being bad... but it's more fulfilling to be good. After all, to conquer others is to have power but to conquer yourself is to know the way. Remember that." Xena finished, sharing her wisdom with the young, recently ex-warlord.

Layla nodded and smiled to herself, happy that she finally had a chance to really talk to her. She genuinely admired Xena and hoped that she could be like her one day. Hopefully she'd be sticking around for a long time because she didn't plan to leave Solan, Kalie oe the rest of the family. She had always admired Xena as a warrior before she even met her because of all the stories she had heard but now she truly admired the person. It meant a lot to her that Xena really wasn't holding anything against her because she hoped they could become friends one day, she also knew that Xena's opinion of her meant a lot to Solan. Layla just had one last question for the moment and she felt like she wouldn't be judged for it.

"One more thing, I've changed, really but I've been fighting for so long I kind of get a thrill out of it... You never felt that way?" The question made Xena laugh.

"Oh yeah! I used to. Sometimes I used to wonder was I fighting for the greater good or for the love of fighting. Actually, Gabrielle brought it to my attention."

"How did you change that?"

"Well I wasn't angry anymore, I had no reason to be. I had everything I could ever want; a wonderful husband, two beautiful children, the best friends anyone could ask for, my mother. I was finally happy so when I fought, I was no longer fighting out of anger but for love. Anger was just holding me back, the only thing I had to deal with after that was my ocean of guilt from everything I had done."

"I hope I can get to that point one day."

"It just takes time. Trust me, I didn't become this way over night."

-v-

Evania was walking home with a handsome; six feet tall, beautiful sandy blond hair, green eyed, slender but muscular nineteen year old young man. He had been pursuing her for over a month now and he was good at it. She was attracted to him and he said all the right things but after the trick Owen was playing on her, she was hesitant to fall for the sweet talk again. She sensed he was a bad boy but not out to hurt her. It bothered her a bit, why was she so attracted to bad boys, someone so opposite of her? She couldn't understand it.

"I'm surprised you let me walk you this far. You usually try to get rid of me anytime we get close to your house. Are you finally going to let me meet your parents?" The handsome man named Drake asked.

"I wouldn't be so anxious to meet my parents if I were you." Evania said.

"Why not? I'm a charming guy." Drake said.

"You don't know my parents. They'll shove that charm right down your throat." Evania said, jokingly but really meant it.

"Come on E, I really like you."

"I really like you too Drake but I've been burned before."

"I'm not the fire that burned you, I'm the fire that'll keep you warm."

They were near Joxer and Meg's house when Evania noticed their son Hesperos coming out of the house with a beautiful, petite red head. Mira was quietly playing with her doll. Faith was there with Nissan and came over to Evania and Drake when she noticed them.

"Hey Vani, hey Drake!" Faith exclaimed, bubbly as usual. Faith had gotten past what happened with Hope. She understood that Hope was evil. Gabrielle was still holding on to it though.

"Hey... who's that with Hes?" Evania asked.

"Oh, that's his girlfriend, Tegan. They've been hot and heavy for a while now." Faith replied.

"How come I didn't know about her?" Evania asked.

"You don't ask. Besides, you've had a lot going on recently, ya know." Faith said as the three of them approached the house.

"Hello Nissan, Mira, Hes... Tegan." Evania greeted and they all spoke to her. Drake cleared his throat, wanting to be introduced. "Oh... sorry. This is Drake." Evania had forgotten Drake was even with her because all she could think about was that Hesperos was hardly paying her any attention. All his focus was on Tegan and he didn't seem to think twice about her being with a guy. Every since they were kids, Hesperos pretty much followed her around like a love sick puppy, giving her flowers and making her things. She noticed that he hadn't been around her much for awhile. She was relieved but all of a sudden she felt different. She wasn't sure why but she didn't like it too much.

Evania and Drake continued to her house but she didn't let him stick around to meet Xena and Hercules. He gave her a peck on his lips and then went on his way.

A few days later, Evania sat on a rock with her head in her hand while everyone had a nice picnic. Faith wondered what was on her best friend's mind so she went over to her. All Evania could focus on was Hesperos. Her eyes roamed his growing muscles and rock hard abs with his vest open and admired his curly black hair and Latin features like she never had before.

"What is it, Vani?" Faith asked.

"I don't know... is it me or has Hes gotten hotter?" Evania asked.

"He's my boyfriend's brother so I never looked at him that way but he looks the same to me. His muscles have gotten bigger though. Since when do you check him out? You've always wished that he would leave you alone."

"I know but... I miss him now."

"Don't tell me you have a thing for Hes all of a sudden."

"Would that be so bad?"

"Yes! That's not fair! He's been in love with you for nearly his entire life, now all of a sudden he finally gets a girl who really likes him and now you want him."

"I didn't know I was hiding these feelings from myself. You know I seem to have a thing for bad boys and he wasn't so I think I was blind."

"No. This is about you wanting what you can't have." Faith had lost her usual bubbly attitude and got serious with her best friend. She may be younger and bubbly but she'd always give it to you straight.

"I can have him."

"In what world?"

"This one. Tiki may have had-" Evania started.

"Tegan." Faith corrected her.

"Fine, TEGAN may have had him for a few months but he's been in love with me for years in and years out and maybe I took too long to realize that I love him too but I refuse to let him slip through my fingers just like that. I am going to get my Hesperos back."

"Oh now he's your Hesperos... how do you plan on getting him back, after he's completely gotten over you?"

"Oh we'll see about that. I'll need your help."

"Oh no. I'm not getting involved in this mess."

"Come on, I'm your best friend!"

"Hes is my friend to Vani."

"This will benefit both of us, I promise."

"Fine, what do you need me to do?"

"All you have to do is get him to my house tomorrow night about an hour after all our parents go to the heroes ball. I will handle the rest."

"What is the rest?"

"I'll work my magic. One thing I've learned recently is that seduction works wonders with a man."

"What do you know about seduction? You don't even know much about a good kiss."

"I know enough, besides look at me. It won't take much effort."

"Conceited much?"

"What? Just saying?"

"Don't you have Solan to worry about? What about Layla, she's been staying there too?"

"No, they're all moving in with my grandmother in the morning. Grandmother is getting older and can't get around like she used to, Solan needs his own place and frankly, it's way too crowded with him, Layla and Kalie there."

The next day, after all the adults went to the ball, Evania made a nice little dinner. Then Faith went to get Hesperos and convinced him that Evania needed him. He went into the house and saw the dinner spread on the table.

"Vani!" Hesperos called. About a minute later he saw her silhouette walking toward him slowly. When she stepped into the light, she was wearing a long black skirt with a split on the left side that went all the way up to her hip and a top that showed off her flat stomach. Hesperos was in aw with her beauty and the fact that he had never seen her like this. He was speechless for a few seconds. "Faith said you needed me." She walked closer to him until they were about an inch away from each other and caressed his chest.

"I do need you." Evania said, seductively. Hesperos contemplated what to say. "I need you to have dinner with me."

"Uh..."

"You're not going to make Vani eat dinner all by her lonesome, are you Hessy?" Evania said in a baby voice then took a grape from the fruit bowl and fed it to him. All Hesperos could do was shake his head. Evania smiled.

After dinner, Evania went to sit on Hesperos' lap.

"Did you enjoy the dinner?" Evania asked.

"Delicious... thanks. I should probably go now."

"Wait... don't you miss me Hes? I miss you." Evania crossed her left leg, revealing it entirely.

"Why are doing this to me Vani?"

"What? Tell you the truth?"

"Why now?"

"Because I love you, really love you." Evania kissed him passionately.

"Where did you learn how to kiss like that?"

"Was it ok?" Evania asked, unsure.

"Amazing." They kissed again.

"I want to be your girl."

"...I'm with Tegan." Hesperos remembered.

"Could you live with yourself if you didn't give us a chance?" They kissed passionately and intensely until they suddenly heard the front door open. "Mommy!" Evania exclaimed after seeing Xena.

"What in tartarus is going on in here?" Xena asked.

"Um..." Evania wanted to come up with a lie to stop the awkwardness.

"We'll see you later Hes." Xena said cuing Hesperos to leave. Evania got off his lap and he quickly left.

"What was that about?" Xena asked. Evania scratched her head. "You're too young."

"Mother, I'll be eighteen in two months... and nothing happened, nothing was going to happen. I just wanted to let him know that... I love him and I wanted to remind him that he loved me too so that he'd forget about that red headed bimbo.

"Red headed bimbo... jealous, huh? Look, if you love Hesperos and you want to be together then fine but don't grow up too fast. You have your whole life ahead of you. You're my baby." Xena hugged her youngest child, her only girl thinking that she is like Hercules in so many ways but boy did she pick up a lot of her traits.

"You're baby is almost an adult."

"But my baby is not an adult yet... Now go put some clothes on."

"Mother."

"Or your father will be in here in about point two seconds and you can explain this to him."

"I'm changing, I'm changing!" Evan quickly went to her room to get out of her sexy outfit.

-v-

The next day, Evania came outside and the first face she saw was Hesperos. They both shot each other a loving smile.

"Did your mom completely freak?" Hesperos asked.

"Not really. I think she's afraid I'll turn out like her or something. I can't be her baby forever but we had an extremely long talk." Evania replied.

"Did she tell your dad?"

"I begged her not to. She hasn't yet. I think she hasn't because if she does, his super strength would be the only thing keeping him from having a super heart attack. So what about you and Tegan?"

"I broke up with her... You're not playing with my heart, are you Vani?"

"Not at all."

"What about that Drake guy?"

"Drake who?" She kissed him then they noticed Aphrodite and Ares walking toward the house.

"Hey Vani and Hes!" Aphrodite exclaimed as they walked by.

"Xena!" Ares yelled as they got close to the house.

Xena and Hercules were making out like a couple teenagers. After all these years they're still hot for each other. When they heard Ares they just stopped and looked at each other wondering if they had actually heard him until he called again. They opened up and let Ares and Aphrodite in. They hadn't seen them since they had become mortal.

"Hey Aphodite." Hercules smiled. "What do you want?" Hercules asked Ares in the opposite tone.

"I didn't call you, I called Xena." Ares replied.

"Well excuse me, I thought you were in my house." Hercules said sarcastically.

"What do you want Ares?" Xena asked.

"You said I could ask you if I needed help." Ares replied.

"Yeah, so now you need my help? Isn't it ironic that the one god who never wanted to be asked for help is asking for help from the one person who never asked him for help?" Xena pointed out.

"Come on Xena. This is no time for games. This is life or death thanks to you and your brat." Ares said.

"So you ask me for help then you insult my daughter. You know, maybe I'm no good at this but that's not how you do it and how is it our faults?" Xena asked.

"I wouldn't have this problem if I was still a god!" Ares exclaimed.

"Now that the word is out that Ares is mortal, every warlord he's ever screwed over is ready to kill him." Aphrodite informed.

"Oh." Xena said nonchalantly. "Why would should I help you?"

"What?" Ares snapped. Xena, Hercules and Aphrodite busted out in laughter. "What is so damn funny?"

"I couldn't resist." Xena said. "Of course I'll help you, Ares."

"You're not funny." Ares said.

"Look, you just need to stay low key and live a normal life." Xena said.

"He's been pretending to still be a god until he got caught." Aphrodite said.

"You fool." Xena said to Ares. "You can live in my mother's old tavern in Amphipolis. No one has lived there for years. You just need to fix it up a bit. You can both stay there. There's plenty of room."

"You mean live like a mortal?" Ares asked with disgust.

"News flash Ares, you are mortal." Xena said.

"I think it's time you accepted that because it's permanent." Hercules said.

"Who asked you?" Ares snapped.

"You know what..." Hercules picked Ares up and threw him into the door. "We could just let them kill you... This is our house, watch what you say before I send you on your way. If you don't want to hear the truth from me, perhaps the gray growing in on your sides will remind you."

"I am not going gray!" Ares exclaimed.

"Come on bros, play nice." Aphrodite said.

"We'll take you there tomorrow. Don't bring attention to yourself and you should be fine." Xena said.

The next day they took Ares and Aphrodite to the tavern in Amphipolis. On the way there, Xena and Aphrodite talked. They figured since Ares was mortal now, it'd be a good idea if he and Hercules got along. They are brothers after all and the reason why they became rivals in the first place is pretty much irrelevant at this point, aside from the fact that Ares was still in love with Xena but he would have to get over that regardless. So the two locked them in a room together for hours on end. They figured, they'd either learn how to get along or kill each other and they were betting on the first one. It took them hours to break out but the fact that they had to work together to break out and the fact that they couldn't be anymore annoyed with Xena and Aphrodite actually did cause a break through in their relationship.

-v-

Two months later... It was finally Evania's eighteenth birthday and everyone had come together to celebrate.

"Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me everyone. You all have always been there. What would we all do without each other?" Evania said.

Later, Solan and Evania got some time to walk. They watched their family as they intereacted.

"Have you enjoyed your birthday?" Solan asked.

"Yeah. It's been great." Evania said.

"I remember my first birthday with mom. It was everything I ever asked for. I was so happy and on top of that we had just come back from India. Everything was so exciting... You know what I remember most about India?"

"What?" Evania asked curiously.

"That's when mother told me she was pregnant with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I'll admit, I wasn't all that excited at first. I thought you were going to take all of mom's attention after I had really just gotten it but you've been one of the best things to happen to me. You're an amazing little sister and I think you were what officially brought mom and dad together. Them coming together is essentially why we are all here together right now... Birds of a feather I guess... I can't imagine life without all of them. Joxer is the best, I can always depend on him to tell me the truth and have my back. Gabrielle, taught me everything about writing. She basically home schooled me for two years before we finally settled here in Cori. We've got all these great friends out of the deal, you got a boyfriend... And what would we do without grandmother. Then there's mom and dad. Look at them..." Xena and Hercules looked happily in love, almost as if they were still in honeymoon stage.

"I hope I have a marriage like them... hopefully with Hes."

"I want that too. I'll let you in on a little secret. Layla and I are engaged. We didn't announce it because we didn't want to steal your thunder."

"Well thanks but congrats, I'm happy for you. Maybe you will be like mom and daddy. You sort of met the same way. I was so shocked when I overheard that mom and dad met because mother wanted to kill him. What a strange family we have." Evania laughed. "So I guess she's going to officially adopt Kalie too."

"Yeah... You know people will judge of us because our mother is Xena the Warrior Princess but they don't know her. We couldn't have had a better mother, ya know. She's always put our needs first. We've always been so protected from everything and I actually think her past made her a better mother."

"How's that?"

"Who better to teach us about forgiveness, and to put love first, how to survive and protect ourselves?" Solan gazed at his mother.

"Yeah... you're absolutely right."

"...Anyway, I love you Vani." Solan said.

"I love you too, big brother Solan." Evania said.

"I didn't give you your birthday present yet... how would you like to take your first trip to Egypt with Layla, Kalie and I?"

"Are you serious? Yes!" Evania hugged Solan again. "Thank you so much!" Xena and Hercules came over.

"How's my prince and princess doing?" Xena asked.

"Amazing!" Evania exclaimed.

"I was just telling Vani I was taking her with us to visit Egypt... And we were just talking about how much we love and admire you both." They embraced in a family hug.

Evania and Hesperos got married years later and had two boys; Hero and Angel and two girls; Xenatra and Sky.

Solan and Layla got married, raised Kalie together and had two boys; Borias and Hercules.


End file.
